Christmas With You
by pandanarchy
Summary: Aoba and Noiz spend Christmas together in Germany.
1. Sunday December 18th

It had been a slow afternoon. The sky outside was bleak and grey, and it had been snowing on and off for the past several hours. Aoba was curled up on the couch, leaning against the arm at an angle with Ren curled into a ball by his feet. They were surrounded by a thick, fluffy blanket, and Aoba was trying to concentrate on his language exercises. A few weeks ago, he'd spotted a "Teach Yourself German" book on sale in the city, and he'd bought it, thinking it would be nice if he could actually have more of an idea about what was going on around him when Noiz wasn't there to translate.

He scrunched up his face and tapped his pacer restlessly on the edge of his book. _What the hell is this?_ He was stuck. He flipped back through multiple pages, looking for an explanation that might help him. German was very different from Japanese, and he was struggling with it. He was amazed sometimes at how fluent Noiz was in both languages. After reading through the entire chapter for the second time, Aoba sighed and snapped the book shut, using his pacer as a makeshift bookmark.

"Seems like it's time for a break…" he murmured to himself, carefully pushing his blanket aside to avoid disturbing Ren, and freeing his legs. He stood up in a stretch and glanced outside. The snow seemed to be falling more heavily than earlier, and it looked like it was going to stick, at least for a little while.

 _That could be a pain for Noiz when he gets home from work_ , Aoba thought. Even though it was a Sunday and he really shouldn't have been working, last night Theo had called Noiz to ask for his help with some last minute paperwork today, and to Aoba's dismay, Noiz had agreed. Aoba had wanted to spend the day with him, but he supposed he couldn't have everything. He crossed the room now and peered out the window, confirming his suspicions. There was now a thick layer of snow built up in the driveway, meaning Noiz wouldn't be able to get into the garage when he came home.

"Well, I guess I have to spend my break doing this now…" Aoba resigned himself to his duty. Noiz would be home in about an hour, so he'd have to get started with shoveling now if he was going to be any help. "Wait here for me, Ren." He retrieved his snow jacket from the bedroom closet and pulled it on, bracing himself for the harsh cold outside.

Opening the front door, he was rocked by a sharp gust of wind. He paused on the front steps to pull his hood up, protecting his ears from the cold. As he slowly descended the steps, he grumbled to himself, "The things I do for that boy…" His boots sank deep into the snow as he plodded his way over to the small shed where the shovel was kept.

Aoba had never had to shovel snow before coming to Germany. Midorijima had been pretty cold in winter, but they'd never seen any serious snow, mostly just sleet. Since the snow had started falling here in late-October, he'd had to shovel the driveway a couple of times to make sure Noiz could get into the garage safely. Even though he complained, truthfully he didn't mind it that much. It wasn't like he was doing anything else particularly important.

The snow crunched loudly as he dug the shovel in. After the first few minutes, it didn't even seem like he'd made a dent. The snow was a bit thicker than he'd thought before, and it didn't help that it was still snowing lightly as he worked, so this was probably going to take him longer than expected. He set his jaw in determination. He was going to have this driveway clear by the time Noiz was home.

He had no idea how much time had passed. Ten minutes? Maybe twenty? It was gradually getting dark out. He was halfway through with the driveway, his face was flushed from the cold, and his arms and shoulders were starting to ache dully. He was suddenly caught off guard when he heard footsteps crunching in the snow behind him. He whirled around, only to be met by an instantly recognizable face.

"Noiz?!"

It was true, Noiz was standing just a few steps behind him, wearing a heavy jacket over his suit, a thick knitted scarf and a smug expression. In his hands, he held two steaming mugs of hot cocoa.

"Are you surprised to see me?" he teased, smiling tenderly but still somehow managing to maintain an aura of smugness. He stepped closer, bumping elbows with Aoba and holding out one of the mugs. "Here, this is for you. You look like you need it," he commented.

"Do you want to explain how you're standing behind me right now? Where's the car?" Aoba asked skeptically, though that didn't stop him from immediately dropping the shovel in favour of the hot cocoa. He cupped his hands around the mug, heating the life back into his stiff fingers, and brought it to his lips. It was delicious, but more importantly it was warm. Aoba could feel it warming his entire body. It was exactly what he needed right now.

But he wasn't about to tell Noiz that. He still wanted answers, and Noiz was just standing there drinking his own cocoa. "So, where's the car?" Aoba repeated, kicking at the snow with his feet. "The driveway's not done yet, but—"

"I didn't take the car today," Noiz interrupted. "I thought I told you this morning? About the weather?" He took a sip of his own hot cocoa, watching Aoba out of the corner of his eye.

"Was that when you woke up for work, and you woke me up to say goodbye?" Noiz nodded and Aoba groaned loudly. "How many times do I need to remind you? Don't tell me important things when I'm half asleep! I'll never remember them!"

Noiz chuckled. "Well, I'll tell you now then."

"It's too late now!" Aoba whined. "I've already started on the driveway, and the car's still in the garage, isn't it? Oh my god." Noiz rubbed his back gently. Combined with the hot cocoa, it was pretty soothing. But it was still pretty cold outside. "Let's go inside," Aoba suggested, bending to pick the shovel back up.

Noiz gave his now-empty mug to Aoba, trading him for the shovel. While Aoba went inside to put the mugs in the kitchen and remove his jacket, Noiz returned the shovel to the shed and joined him a moment later. "So what about the weather…?" Aoba prompted.

"Oh, that," Noiz said thoughtfully, removing his jacket and hanging it up as he spoke. "There was a weather report this morning that said there would be unusually heavy snow today. So I decided to get a lift to work with Theo because I didn't want to drive in it. When I got home, I saw you shoveling the driveway. You were so distracted, you didn't even see Theo's car pull up. So I went in through the back door and made hot cocoa for us."

Aoba wasn't really sure of what to say. Noiz had seen him shoveling the driveway and had just left him to do it? "Thank you," Aoba said finally. "For the hot cocoa." He supposed he couldn't really bring himself to hold it against Noiz. It wasn't like he'd asked Aoba to shovel the driveway just to mess with him. Aoba had volunteered, and it was his own fault for not remembering their conversation from the morning. He stood on his toes and craned his neck to kiss Noiz on the forehead. "Welcome home."

Before Aoba could react, Noiz caught him by the chin and tilted his head, planting a kiss right on his lips. Aoba's face and ears turned bright red. He wasn't sure if he could ever get used to how forward Noiz was sometimes. He liked it a lot, but it was always surprising and embarrassing.

"Do you want to cook dinner tonight, or should I order something?" Noiz asked casually, loosening the tie around his neck. The way he dressed may have changed a lot, but his eating habits had remained virtually the same as when he'd been living in Midorijima. He still had no idea how to cook for himself, so he usually either relied on Aoba, or ordered food to be delivered from one of the restaurants in the city. Aoba supposed at least he wasn't living on pizza and pasta now.

"I'll cook," Aoba offered. "There's no need to waste money on getting food delivered." He pushed past Noiz and entered the kitchen. It was very sleek and modern, and filled with expensive appliances. Some of them he didn't even know how to use. He'd taught himself how to use the espresso machine, but when the hell was he ever going to use a wine preservation station? He opened the double door fridge to inspect what ingredients he had to work with.

Sidling up beside him, Noiz leant against the fridge with his hand and closed one of the doors. "Before that, why don't we light the last candle?" he suggested.

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Aoba agreed. Just a split second ago, he'd been primed and ready to scold Noiz for getting in his way, but now that he knew the reason, he was excited. "I'll get the lighter." He opened the third kitchen drawer, which was an absolute mess filled with miscellaneous tools, and dug around in search of the lighter.

Noiz was already in the living room when Aoba came in, flicking through Aoba's German book. "So you got confused on this one?" he asked, gesturing to the page Aoba had marked.

"Uh, yeah," Aoba replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, I'm sure it's pretty simple, I just don't get it…" Noiz was so good with languages. Aoba didn't want to look stupid in front of him.

"No, this one's actually pretty difficult for non-native speakers," Noiz reassured him. "Don't worry. You're not failing. Here, I'll show you…" He clicked Aoba's pacer and began scribbling on the page, drawing arrows and writing his own explanation. Aoba peered over his shoulder. He was surprised. What Noiz had written actually made much more sense than the explanation in the book. Maybe he should go to Noiz for help more often.

"Thank you," Aoba said gratefully. He'd have to read over it properly later when he had more time. "Anyway… I found the lighter."

"Oh, good," Noiz replied, putting the German book back on the couch next to Ren and snatching the lighter from Aoba's hand. "Come on." Aoba followed him to the grey stone mantelpiece, which was unlit at the moment, but that was where Noiz had chosen to rest the Advent Wreath.

Noiz had been very insistent that they do this, since it was Aoba's first Christmas in Germany. He'd explained that it was a tradition in German families to have an Advent Wreath in their homes, and to light a candle every Sunday for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Their wreath was a beautiful evergreen, dotted with red berries and golden tinsel. In the center there were four tall, red candles. Three were already lit, and this was the last one.

Sparking the lighter, Noiz carefully held the flame to the wick and then stood back. He wrapped an arm around Aoba's waist. "There, that's the last one," he confirmed, admiring the wreath. The flames flickered in his eyes as he spoke in a slow, soft tone. "You know… I never got to do this with my family when I was younger…"

Aoba suddenly realized with a jolt that Noiz probably would have been shut up in his bedroom when his family had lit the candles on their wreath. He felt a raging fire inside him whenever he thought about how Noiz's family had isolated and neglected him. But he also realized that getting angry right now had no point. It wouldn't help Noiz. It became obvious to Aoba that Noiz had been so insistent on following this tradition not just because it was Aoba's first Christmas in Germany, but also because he'd wanted to finally be a part of it himself.

Snuggling into Noiz's arms, Aoba mumbled, "At least you're doing it with your family now." Noiz was silent for a moment _. Oh no_. Maybe he'd never thought of Aoba as family before? Aoba was starting to panic. Had he gone too far? Shit, he couldn't take it back now.

"Yeah…" Noiz said slowly. "Yeah, this is nice." He didn't say anything else after that, but his arms tightened around Aoba slightly.

"Should I go make dinner now?" Aoba asked after a little while. He could feel his stomach starting to rumble, and surely if he was hungry it meant Noiz would be by now too.

"Yeah, that would be nice," Noiz replied, still not taking his eyes off the wreath. Aoba thought about asking if he was okay, but decided to just give him space while he cooked dinner. They had all the time in the world to talk later.


	2. Monday December 19th

Aoba woke up from a dream, disorientated and with bleary eyes. The heavy curtains were blocking all the light in the bedroom so he had no way of telling what time it was. He rolled over to find out. If he encountered empty sheets that meant Noiz had already left for work so it was at least after 7am. But his right arm bumped into warm skin. Noiz's back. He was still here. That must have meant it was some time before 7am then. Aoba wriggled his body to free his arms and wrap them around Noiz, cuddling in close. He wanted to make the most of the time he had before Noiz got up for work.

Gradually, with the comfort of Noiz's body fitting perfectly with his, Aoba drifted off to sleep again, returning to the same dream he'd been having before. It wasn't exactly a bad dream, but it was a lonely one.

 _He kept seeing the faces of his friends and family from Midorijima. Granny standing over the stove making his favourite donuts. Haga-san handing him a package to deliver. Koujaku flirting with all the girls outside his pop-up hairdressing store. Mizuki drawing a new tattoo onto a client's upper arm. Clear holding his transparent umbrella and singing brightly under the stars. Even Mink, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression one of deep brooding. They were all so familiar, and so far away now. It made his heart ache. He missed them..._

When he opened his eyes again, he realized he was still holding onto Noiz tightly. He was confused. He felt like he'd been asleep for hours, or had his dream just tricked him? Why was Noiz still here?

"You're finally awake," Noiz murmured, shifting in Aoba's arms to face him. He reached up and gently stroked Aoba's hair, lightly combing his fingers through it. He had a soft, caring expression on his face, and he didn't look as sleepy as Aoba felt, so Aoba guessed he'd been awake for a little while now.

"What time is it? Did we sleep in?" Aoba questioned. "You're not going to be late for work are you?"

"No, I'm not going today," Noiz replied with light amusement in his tone. "You seemed like you were having a bad dream, and you wouldn't let me go, so I stayed." Aoba felt a powerful surge of affection towards Noiz, but also a tiny pinprick of guilt at making him miss work. "Besides," Noiz continued, "I went to work yesterday when I didn't have to, so it's only fair that I make up for it by not going today."

Aoba didn't completely agree with that, but for once he wasn't going to complain. He was excited to finally have the chance to spend the day with Noiz. And he was also deeply grateful that Noiz had stayed with him to support him. Having Noiz by his side made him feel a lot less lonely.

"I've been thinking about trees…" Noiz mused, his voice a little shy. "Thinking about Christmas trees, I mean. I want to make sure we have a nice tree here… In our house."

"That sounds like a good idea," Aoba encouraged him, smiling. "What kind of tree do you want?" If Noiz wanted to have an authentic Christmas experience, of course he was going to fully support him.

"I have no idea," Noiz confessed. His hand paused in Aoba's hair and his expression turned thoughtful. "I don't know very much about Christmas trees, I guess. I know there's a farm outside the city, where you can choose a tree to have cut down and delivered. I think my parents used to get their tree from there. I figured we could have a look there today, and maybe pick a good tree. Oh, and the Christmas markets are on tonight as well, so we could go and buy some ornaments for the tree too. And if you wanted to after that, we could go look at the Christmas light displays they have on…"

Aoba laughed. "You're rambling," he teased. "I thought you said you have no idea, but it sounds like you've got this all planned out already." Noiz said nothing and avoided his gaze, a faint red tinge highlighting his cheeks. "Of course, I'd love to do all those things with you," Aoba told him, nudging him with his elbow.

"Good then," Noiz confirmed, clearing his throat. "Let's have lunch and get going."

"Lunch!?" Aoba echoed, shocked. _Wow, I really did sleep in for too long…_

After they'd gotten dressed and eaten a light lunch, Aoba and Noiz got into the car, headed to the Christmas tree farm. Seeing Noiz as a driver was an interesting surprise for Aoba. After everything that had happened in Platinum Jail, Noiz had left Aoba and returned to Germany to "prepare" for Aoba joining him. Apparently, getting his driver's license had been one of those preparations. The first time Aoba had gotten in a car with Noiz, he'd been very apprehensive. Noiz was a kind of reckless person, and Aoba was concerned that it would cross over into his driving. But to his surprise, Noiz was a perfectly safe driver who obeyed all the road rules.

Or maybe he just did that when Aoba was in the car with him.

With the overcast sky rushing by, Aoba fiddled with the temperature controls on the dashboard, turning the heating on high. It wasn't snowing today, but some of yesterday's snow was still sticking around and it was still another cold day nonetheless.

"Your CD is still in the player," Noiz pointed out, glancing over his shoulder to check his blind spot as he switched lanes.

"Oh! You don't mind?" Aoba asked. Noiz shook his head. He and Noiz had slightly different tastes in music, but Noiz always let him be the designated DJ in the car anyway. He supposed it was easier than Noiz trying to work the stereo while driving. Aoba switched from the radio to the CD and pressed play.

It felt like it had been a while since he'd last listened to GOATBED. Realistically, it had probably been when he was last in Noiz's car. But it felt like it was taking him all the way back to Midorijima, when he was walking the streets delivering packages with Ren navigating from his backpack. He closed his eyes and imagined he was driving through Midorijima right now. The stop-start of the Midorijima traffic didn't really match the speedy flow of their current driving, though.

"Do you still like living here with me?" Noiz asked, bringing him back to reality suddenly. That question had come out of nowhere. Aoba opened his eyes and looked over at the boy, trying to read his expression. But Noiz had his eyes glued on the road and wasn't giving anything away.

Aoba's mouth formed a hard line. "Of course I do," he replied, frowning. His tone was a little defensive, but he couldn't help it. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"You're homesick," Noiz said bluntly. He said it almost like it was an accusation. It certainly wasn't a question. It didn't need any kind of confirmation. Noiz could already tell that it was the truth.

Aoba hesitated. "Yeah…" he mumbled. "Yeah, of course I'm homesick! I moved like 9,000 kilometers across the world, away from my job and my friends and my family and everything I've ever known. Of course I'm homesick…"

"You've got Ren," Noiz countered. "And… You've got me."

Aoba sighed, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. He was slowly piecing things together. "I know that," he said softly. "I know I've got you. But it's not all black and white, you know? Just because I have you doesn't mean I won't be homesick. But… Just because I'm homesick doesn't mean I don't want to live here either… Also, you're speeding."

Noiz glanced down at the speedometer and grimaced slightly. He released his foot from the accelerator slightly, slowing down. Aoba figured he must have been letting his emotions get to him, even if he was trying not to show it.

"Look," Aoba said firmly. "I think I'm just feeling homesick because it's the holiday season, you know? You have nothing to worry about. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be."

"But if you want to go back to Japan at any time—" Noiz started, his knuckles white around the steering wheel.

"That's not happening," Aoba interrupted, his tone even sterner than before. "Just calm down, okay? I love you and I love living with you, and we're going to pick a great Christmas tree for our home today."

Noiz took a deep breath. "Okay," he agreed, releasing his tension along with the death grip he had on the steering wheel. "We're almost at the farm, anyway," he noted, jerking his chin towards the large billboard by the side of the road.

"You know I can't read that," Aoba laughed. "What does it say?"

Noiz smiled. "It just says the tree farm is the next exit," he replied, flicking his indicator on. Aoba noticed they were well out of the city now, and the landscape had turned into more of a countryside. The buildings were rustic and sparse, and there were stretches of green field on either side of the motorway. It would have seemed like a very lovely painting if not for the gloomy grey sky looming overhead. The exit they took led them off the motorway and eventually they emerged in a valley steeped with towering trees. The road under their tyres dissolved from bitumen to dusty gravel as they drove along the narrow, winding roads.

" _Verdammt_ , I hate driving on roads like this," Noiz mumbled to himself, furrowing his brow in concentration. He slowed right down to take care on the blind corners, despite the fact that they were one of the only cars on the road. Aoba leaned over and turned the music down so it wouldn't distract him. "Anyway, I guess this is the place."

They turned off the road and pulled into the carpark. There was only one other car besides them, and Noiz parked as far from it as possible. He locked the car doors as they got out, and automatically reached for Aoba's hand as they ambled towards the reception building. It wasn't a very attractive building. It was squat and made from grey bricks, with tinted windows half blocked by venetian blinds and a simple sign out the front that Aoba assumed was the farm name. Nothing about this place looked particularly flashy, now that he was thinking about it. The carpark and the building were both very bleak, all tones of grey except for the patches of white snow scattered about.

Noiz spoke to the plump middle-aged lady behind the counter in German. She seemed friendly and chatty, and she vaguely reminded Aoba of a lighter-haired version of Yoshie, but without Clara perched at her elbow. _Ren would probably prefer this version_ , he thought to himself, smiling. He tried his best to follow the conversation, but he could only pick out certain words here and there. Just from the context though, he gathered that Noiz was asking to be shown the trees and the lady was using the office phone to contact someone who could be their guide.

A few moments later, the steel back door opened and a gangly, round-faced man wearing a red tartan kromer hat joined them, seeming a little out of breath as if he'd just sprinted across the farm to meet them. " _Hallo_ ," he greeted them with a nod of his head. And then the rest of what he said, Aoba couldn't understand.

"Let's go," Noiz whispered to him, his hand falling to the small of Aoba's back. They followed the man to the back door, and walked through as he held it open for them. Aoba's breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened. They were instantly met with rows upon rows of luscious, green fir trees of all kinds of shapes and sizes. He'd never seen so many impressive trees in one place before. They didn't have anything like this back in Midorijima; they only sold small trees in the Southern District. Some of the trees towards the front were decorated with glimmering baubles and flashing Christmas lights, to demonstrate what they would look like in the home, and some of them further along still had branches tipped with snow from the day before. They were all beautiful.

"Wow… We couldn't see any of this from the carpark," Aoba marveled aloud, swinging his head from side to side, trying to look down every row at once. There was just so much to take in. He wondered how they would ever be able to pick just one tree. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the man who was guiding them staring at him curiously, and he suddenly realized he'd been speaking in Japanese. "Umm… They're beautiful… _Sie sind schön_ ," he complimented, giving an awkward smile. He wasn't completely confident that what he'd said was right, and he felt his heart hammering in his chest. He looked to Noiz for reassurance, but Noiz's gaze was focused elsewhere.

But thankfully, the man beamed back at him and responded, " _Danke!_ " He caught Aoba by the jacket sleeve and excitedly began dragging Aoba down one of the rows, presumably to start showing him the trees. Aoba's feet stumbled on the snowy ground a little, but he managed to keep up. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Noiz wandering off into a different row. _No, don't leave me alone! I can't speak German!_ Aoba thought frantically.

As they slowly made their way between the trees, the man was gesturing to them and talking about each one. Aoba was actually surprised at himself, realizing that he could at least understand the man telling him how old and how tall each tree was. Aside from that though, he was lost. He tried to catch glimpses of Noiz through the trees, but he couldn't tell where the boy had gone.

His feet paused as one particular tree caught his eye. It was sculpted into the shape of a stereotypically perfect Christmas tree, with deep green leaves and strong branches. It wasn't the tallest tree in line, but to Aoba it seemed like it would suit their house perfectly. He could easily picture it in the corner of their living room, covered in glittery decorations and casting strange shadows against the wall as the fire flickered beside it. "How much is this one? Uh… _Wieviel kostet das?_ " he asked the man.

He heard the man rattle off a bunch of different prices, but he couldn't discern what they were for exactly. 140 euros, 55 euros, 70 euros, but what was it all for? Aoba folded his arms across his chest. Did he have to pay all of those prices? It all seemed really expensive. He looked around once again, his eyes searching for Noiz. _Damn, where is that boy? I don't want to accidentally commit to something stupid._

Aoba cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out, "Noiz! Where are you?" No response came. He grumbled to himself, and then turned back to the man. What was he going to do now? The man was clearly waiting for some kind of response. "Ah, p-please wait a second. _Warten Sie mal_ ," he begged, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "My boyfriend is lost. _Mein Freund fehlt…_ "

"Why do you look so nervous? You're doing well," Noiz's voice commented suddenly from the other side of the tree line. He was standing in between two trees which were growing slightly too close together, holding the branches aside and peeking through at Aoba. "Well, you're doing well except for the fact that you just told him I'm missing, not lost. There's a slight difference."

"Damn it!" Aoba cursed, clenching his teeth. He could feel his face warming as a blush spread across his cheeks. "What should I have said then?"

Noiz carefully pushed his way between the trees, ignoring the disapproving look the man was giving him for taking the shortcut, to stand beside Aoba. " _Mein Freund ist verloren_ ," he corrected, smiling and taking Aoba's hand. "But I'm here now." He then turned back to the man and asked him to repeat the prices.

"What did he say?" Aoba asked quietly, looking up at Noiz who was tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"The tree is 140 euros, the stand is 55 euros, and the delivery fee is 70 euros to the city," Noiz recited. _That's good, at least I got all the numbers right_ , Aoba thought proudly. Slow progress was still progress, he supposed. "So this is the tree you were interested in?" Noiz asked him, casting a critical eye on the tree.

"Yeah," Aoba replied. "Why? You don't like it?" He watched Noiz's face carefully, but just like in the car earlier, Noiz wasn't giving anything away. _Why is he so hard to read sometimes?_

"It's nice. I don't dislike it," Noiz answered cautiously. "But I found a tree I'd like to show you as well." _So that's what he was doing earlier_. Aoba nodded, and Noiz said something to the man quickly before leading Aoba off, walking down the designated paths instead of taking the same shortcut as before. "Here, it's this one," Noiz announced.

"Uh, Noiz…" Aoba said slowly. "This tree…" He wasn't sure how to react. Was this some kind of joke? "It's tiny…" _And I thought the tree I was looking at was small…_ They were standing over a tree that was clearly the runt of the farm. It had a very nice, rich green colour to its leaves and it had a nice pointed form. But it was shorter even than Aoba.

"I know it's tiny," Noiz replied. He hesitated, biting his lower lip for a moment. _He's probably resisting making a dick joke right now_ , Aoba thought, rolling his eyes. "But it has potential, right?" Noiz continued. "It's cute. And I thought if we don't buy it, it's likely no one else will and it'll just end up dying on this farm."

"I guess that's true, but…" Aoba trailed off, running his eyes over the tiny tree again. It wasn't that he hated it, it was just that he couldn't picture this tree in their living room as easily as he could with the other tree. He opened his mouth to explain this to Noiz, but Noiz spoke up again.

"Why don't we get both?" Noiz suggested casually.

Aoba frowned. "Isn't that expensive?"

"So what?" Noiz replied, shrugging defiantly. "I don't really care about the money, I just want you to have the nice things you deserve."

Aoba turned his gaze away for a moment, thinking. Noiz was always very willing to spend money for Aoba. He always had been. And now there was something that Noiz really wanted for himself, this ridiculous tiny Christmas tree, and Aoba wasn't going to be the kind of jerk to stand in his way. Noiz deserved nice things too. "Okay," he agreed finally. "Let's get both trees. We can put one up in the living room and the other in the bedroom." _Problem solved_.

Noiz grinned back at him. "Good. I'll go tell Kort," he announced. For a split second Aoba thought, _Who the hell is Kort?_ But then he realized it must have been the man who was guiding them around. _Man, I hope I can improve my German soon_ , he sighed. A short while later, Noiz returned. "Okay, we're good to go. They'll be delivered Christmas Eve," he informed Aoba, whose eyebrows shot up.

"That's such a long time from now!" he exclaimed. "We'll have to decorate it last minute. Do they have a lot of orders to fill?"

"No, not really," Noiz replied with a nonchalant shrug. "It's just tradition to have trees brought into the house on Christmas Eve. If you're worried about decorating, I can go ask them to deliver earlier…"

"Ah, don't worry, this is fine!" Aoba jumped in, gesturing frantically and feeling a little flustered. He didn't want to cause any trouble. "So… What was next on the plans for today?" he asked as they headed back around the building to the carpark.

Noiz unlocked the car and they both piled in. "The Christmas markets will still be on for another couple of hours," he suggested, turning the key in the ignition. As they pulled out of the carpark, he continued, "There should be a lot of really good traditional food and Christmas decorations. Germany is famous for handmade glass ornaments. We've got two trees to decorate now, so we should make sure to make them both look as good as possible."

Aoba was slowly discovering that Noiz was secretly a Christmas person. He smiled. It warmed his heart a little. "The markets sound good," he agreed, holding his hands in front of the air vent to heat them up. "I could do with some more food soon, anyway."

They parked the car a few streets down from the markets, where there were still some free parking spaces left. The late afternoon chill was setting in, but the streets were still very crowded and bustling with people. There were Christmas lights and decorations hanging from the telephone poles and tinsel was wrapped around some of the trees that lined the pavement. As Noiz and Aoba walked the couple of blocks back to the markets, Aoba could hear the steady hum of conversation and music and bright bells. A smile touched his lips.

"Do you like markets?" Noiz asked him, linking their fingers together. They were walking shoulder to shoulder with the crowd, occasionally being jostled and bumped into, but Aoba noticed Noiz was subconsciously angling his body to try and protect him from the particularly careless or dreamy pedestrians.

"No, I just like you," Aoba doted, turning to smile at Noiz.

Noiz frowned. "So… You don't like markets?" he clarified. Aoba punched him lightly in the arm and he laughed. Aoba could very clearly remember the first time he'd ever heard Noiz laugh. He knew he'd never get sick of hearing it.

Aoba opened his mouth to respond, but he was distracted when he finally caught a glimpse of the markets between the bobbing heads in front of him. A section of the street had been blocked off from cars and there were rows of neat tents and huts and stalls set up. A sweet mixture of aromas met his nose, but he couldn't tell what they were or where they were coming from. He was itching to explore and find out. With the fading sunlight, more and more lamps and lights began to turn on, and the markets began to glow. They turned the corner and the rest of the markets came into view. Aoba squeezed Noiz's hand silently. Down the end of the street, past all the markets, there was a massive Christmas tree draped in strings of fairy lights. It was incredible.

"Wow…" Aoba breathed, whipping his head from side to side. There was so much to see. He didn't know where to start. He figured the stall closest to them would be as good a place as any. He and Noiz ambled over, their pace mostly controlled by the crowd. As they drew closer, Aoba's nose picked up on the strong scent of incense, just one of the many scents in the air.

Peering over the shoulder of the girl standing in front of him, Aoba saw dozens of wooden toys precisely lined up on top of a table covered in a red velvet cloth. They came in all various shapes and sizes, from tall nutcrackers and thin shepherds to fat chefs and grand kings with silver crowns. The girl stepped aside and Aoba stepped in for a closer look.

" _Sie sind alle handgefertigt. Es dauert Stunden, um eine zu malen_ ," the balding man behind the counter said to Aoba with a warm smile that made his eyes crinkle at the corners. He made a sweeping gesture to the figures on the table.

Aoba nodded and politely smiled back, picking up one of the toys to inspect it more closely. "What did he say?" he whispered to Noiz. He'd only been able to understand "one hour" but without context it didn't do him much good.

"They're all handmade, and it takes about an hour to paint just one of them," Noiz translated, following Aoba and picking one up as well.

Turning the wooden toy in his hands, Aoba could see that the paint job was incredibly detailed. It was a bearded sailor wearing a navy blue uniform and carrying a small pipe. The colors were very vibrant and the tiny lines of detail on the clothing were very neat. _No wonder these take an hour to paint_ , he thought. He also noticed it was partially hollowed out. "What's this for?" he asked Noiz.

Noiz glanced over at him, immediately recognizing the figure in Aoba's hands. "That's a smoking figure," he explained. "You can burn incense in it and the smoke comes out the pipe."

"Oh, so it's not just a toy," Aoba said, putting the sailor back in line on the table. His eyes scanned further along the table and he noticed that some of the wooden figures were plain toys, some were fashioned into ornaments, and some were hollowed out. At the very end of the table, he saw a plump snowman figure standing on a pedestal, emanating wispy smoke from a small hole in its mouth. "I see how it works…" Aoba murmured. "Granny would love this."

"Which one?" Noiz asked, having overheard him. He was already reaching into his pocket for his wallet.

"No, no!" Aoba flailed to stop him. "They're expensive! I can't ask for that!"

"I'm offering," Noiz insisted. "Which one would Tae like? It's the least I can do to thank her."

"Thank her for what?" Aoba questioned, furrowing his brow.

Noiz rolled his eyes. "For giving us her blessing and letting you come to Germany with me. Now hurry up and tell me which one she'd like, or I'll just pick one at random."

"Ah, okay, fine!" Aoba caved. He glanced back at the table again, and the balding man who was patiently waiting for them to make a decision. "How about… the sailor that first caught my eye," he suggested, pointing it out.

"Done," Noiz agreed quickly, not giving Aoba the chance to change his mind. " _Wir haben das bitte_." Even though Aoba was a little guilty that Noiz was wasting money on him, he silently cheered. He'd understood that entire sentence; _We'll have that one please_. The chapter he'd just done in his language book had been about buying things and talking to a cashier. It was already coming in handy.

Noiz mirrored Aoba's pointing at the sailor figure, and handed over some cash. The man behind the counter handed Noiz back his change and cut a piece of patterned wrapping paper. He laid the figure in the center and carefully wrapped it, finishing it with a golden bow.

" _Danke_!" Aoba accepted the wrapped figure with two hands and mentally kicked himself for barely resisting the urge to bow. But admittedly it had gotten better since he'd first arrived in Germany. "Where to next?" he asked Noiz, tucking the wrapped figure under his arm.

They moved on to look at the next few stalls, which were all selling various types of glass ornaments. It had almost been an understatement when Noiz had said that Germany was famous for glass ornaments. Some of them were so intricate and delicate that Aoba was too scared to go near them. With those prices, he didn't want to have to honor the "you break it, you buy it" rule. Together with Noiz, he picked out several nice ornaments to decorate their Christmas trees with. Noiz paid for them, and they were carefully packed away into boxes, with six to a box.

"This way now," Noiz directed, carefully shifting the boxes of ornaments into one arm to grab Aoba by the wrist and drag him across to the opposite side of the markets. "I thought of something. You need to try this."

This stall was very different from the last few. There were three small, black drink dispensers on a long wooden bench, with blackboards propped up beside each of them, presumably describing their contents in a messy scrawl. There was a very thick, sweet aroma hanging in the air, clinging to their clothes now. _Aha! This is the other thing I could smell earlier_ , Aoba thought triumphantly. _I finally found it. Or at least, Noiz lead me to it._

Noiz placed an order in German and handed his money over, and one of the women behind the counter retrieved two intricately decorated cups from a squat cupboard behind her. She filled them with dark red liquid from the middle dispenser, and gave one each to Aoba and Noiz.

"Try it," Noiz encouraged, raising his cup in a "cheers" motion.

Aoba held the cup just under his nose and took in a deep breath, trying to identify the scent. "It smells like… red wine?" he guessed. He wrinkled his nose at the thought. He didn't really like wine all that much.

"Close. Just try it," Noiz insisted, already taking a sip of his.

Eying the liquid suspiciously, Aoba took a tentative sip. It was surprisingly warm. And spicy. His tongue tingled with the taste of cinnamon and cloves and a hint of vanilla. He took another sip.

"What do you think?" Noiz asked. "Pretty good, right? I told you you'd like it. It's mulled wine. We call it _Glühwein_."

"It's amazing," Aoba replied honestly. "I've never had anything like it before." He'd never imaged himself drinking wine and actually enjoying it. He stood with Noiz in front of the stall for a moment, heating his hands on the warm cup and slowly drinking the mulled wine, trying to savor it but also trying to drink it before it went cold. When he was finished, he turned to return the expensive looking cup to the stall, but Noiz caught him.

"We can keep them," he explained. "Usually you can either pay a deposit and bring them back later, or buy them. I bought them. I thought it would make a nice souvenir. Maybe we could even make our own mulled wine at home. Anyway… Let's get something to eat. I saw a _Lebkuchen_ stall a little further down."

" _Lebkuchen_?" Aoba echoed, trying to get the pronunciation right.

" _Lebkuchen_ ," Noiz repeated for him. "Another surprise. You'll see," he teased, guiding Aoba through the crowd.

Each stall was so different from the last, but somehow it all seemed to fit together so well in this strip of markets. The _Lebkuchen_ stall had a large glass cabinet containing dozens of cookies, and Aoba found his mouth watering from the sight. Noiz placed an order and handed over the money, and Aoba felt a stab of guilt. Noiz was the one paying for everything again… But he supposed that was partly because Noiz was the only one who could communicate the order. Not for the first time that day, and probably not for the last, Aoba cursed his lack of knowledge in German. He'd have to start studying harder every day.

Noiz was handed a paper bag filled with six round, flat cookies. He held the bag out to Aoba, offering him the first cookie. Aoba took one and held it to his nose, sniffing it carefully.

"Stop trying to inhale everything I buy for you," Noiz teased him. "Just try it. Trust me. The mulled wine was good, right?"

Aoba considered it for a second. Noiz was right, the mulled wine was good. Aoba had no reason not to trust him. Besides, the cookie had actually smelt pretty good. He took a small bite. _Wow!_ As the cookie crumbled in his mouth, there were so many different spices dancing together, he couldn't name them all if he tried.

"It kind of tastes like… something familiar…" Aoba commented thoughtfully in between mouthfuls.

"Like gingerbread?" Noiz offered. "But not exactly."

"Yes, definitely!" Aoba confirmed, snapping his fingers. He remembered when he was younger, when Granny had thought he was asking for donuts too often, she'd sometimes switch things up by making him gingerbread cookies instead. The _Lebkuchen_ he was eating now had a slightly nostalgic feel to it and he smiled at Noiz. "Thank you."

"You're always welcome. Do you want proper food now, or do you just want to try more treats?" Noiz asked.

"More treats," Aoba replied without hesitation.

Noiz laughed at him. "Okay, let's go."

They ended up spending a lot more time at the markets than they'd originally intended to. But there had just been so much to see and so much to eat…

Aoba glanced at his Coil, checking the time, and he gasped. "Noiz! I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. "We should head home. It's really late, and you have to go to work tomorrow…"

Noiz stopped next to Aoba and shook his head in response. "We're not done yet. We still have the Christmas lights to see," he argued. "I can just take tomorrow off work."

Aoba scowled. "I'm not letting you do that, you brat! You already took today off, you can't take tomorrow off too. You've got responsibilities, you know. We have to go home so you can get some sleep."

Noiz's expression was a mixture of irritation and disappointment. His mouth was set in a hard line, and it was clear he didn't like being told what to do, but he didn't bother to continue arguing. He simply nodded and quietly followed Aoba out of the markets, back down the street to where the car was parked.

The drive home was pretty quiet too, and Aoba started to worry that he might have done something to really upset Noiz. Maybe he'd been too harsh on him. He wanted to bring it up, but he wasn't really sure how. Noiz didn't seem like he was in the mood to talk. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that his knuckles were turning white, and all of his concentration seemed focused on the dark road ahead of him.

When they arrived home, they both got ready for bed in silence. Aoba spoke a couple of soft words to Ren, but he and Noiz showered separately and brushed their teeth without exchanging a single word. Aoba's stomach felt very unsettled. He didn't like this. He didn't like it when something was wrong between him and Noiz. It didn't happen often, but it always put him on edge when it did.

"Noiz?" he whispered into the darkness. They were lying in bed, facing opposite directions. Noiz's back seemed very unfriendly.

"Mmm?" came Noiz's sleepy reply. There was no emotion, just tiredness.

"Are you mad at me?" Aoba asked, feeling a little vulnerable.

There was silence for a few minutes, followed by a loud exhale. The sheets made a shuffling sound and the mattress bounced slightly as Noiz rolled over to face him. Aoba felt Noiz's soft lips press against his own for a long moment.

"I'm never mad at you," Noiz reassured him. "Thank you for making us come home. I'm more tired than I thought, and I'll need the sleep for tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight…" Aoba replied. But his stomach still refused to settle. Noiz may not have been mad at him, but Aoba could tell something was still off.


	3. Tuesday December 20th

Aoba woke to find that Noiz had already left for work. He felt a pang of loneliness. He reached for his Coil on the bedside table. It was only just past 7am, so Noiz must have rushed off to work early. Was it to avoid him? It was still early and he was still tired, but Aoba felt like he wouldn't be able to return to sleep, not with all these thoughts buzzing around in his mind. When he was alone in the big bed, he felt like he was floating in an ocean and he needed Noiz to keep him anchored.

Stretching out his limbs, Aoba decided to get up. He pulled on some comfortable, loose clothes and wandered into the living room. Thankfully, the heater was already running. "Good morning, Ren," Aoba greeted his fluffy friend, who was waiting patiently for him on the couch. Ren's ears perked up and he wagged his tail enthusiastically.

"Good morning, Aoba," Ren replied, jumping down from the couch to follow Aoba to the kitchen. His little paws made a tick-tick sound as his claws hit the wooden floorboards. He made sure to stick close behind Aoba without getting caught under his feet. That had happened once before when he'd first met Aoba, and he'd learned his lesson. "It seems like you didn't sleep very well last night," he commented, taking a second to analyse Aoba's mental state. "However, I have good news that might cheer you up. I downloaded an app to your Coil to help you practice your German."

"Thanks, Ren," Aoba mumbled, pouring milk into his cereal bowl. "It might be a good idea to work on my German today… Since I don't have much else to do." Aoba realized the last part sounded a little bitter. Sometimes he got really bored staying at home all the time. Truthfully, although it was nice to relax, he missed working. But he knew he'd have to be able to speak German near-fluently if he was going to have any chance of getting a job here. So he had to take things one step at a time, no matter how slow and frustrating that was.

Sitting at the kitchen bench and crunching on his cereal, Aoba flicked through his "Teach Yourself German" book, reviewing the chapters he'd already done. It was all pretty simple stuff, but he still found it challenging. Self-teaching was a lot more difficult than he'd expected. He finished his bowl and pushed it aside, pulling out a pen and starting the work from a new chapter. This one was about asking for directions. He scribbled down notes in the margin to help him complete the exercises.

A couple of hours passed before he'd realized it. Aoba flicked back through the pages he'd completed and he was pretty satisfied with himself. _That was a decent amount of work. I should take a break and come back after eating lunch_ , he thought.

"Aoba," Ren piped up, gaining his attention. He'd been settled under Aoba's chair the entire time. "Are you going to try the new app?"

Aoba shrugged, pushing his chair back but being careful to give Ren enough time to move out of the way. "Maybe after lunch," he replied. He knew Ren had gone to the trouble of finding a decent app for him and installing it on his Coil, and he didn't want to seem ungrateful. He just wasn't really sure he wanted to learn through an app. He preferred hands-on learning, like from a textbook where you can do exercises. But at the very least, he'd try the app out and if it wasn't for him, he'd delete it. He started rummaging through the cupboards to find something to cook for lunch.

After he'd eaten, as promised to Ren, Aoba launched the German app on his Coil. He spent a good hour reading through the mini-lessons but a lot of it was basic content he'd already covered teaching himself. However he found there was a section of vocabulary quizzes which would probably come in handy for revision. He double clicked the first quiz to try taking it and… He failed it.

"Ugghh…" Aoba sighed loudly, rocking back in his chair, feeling really disheartened. He thought the quiz would have been simple. The topic was pretty simple, but apparently there were still a lot of words he hadn't covered yet. He barely got 30% right from that quiz. He made a note of the words he'd missed so he could study them later, but he was done with the app for now. He quit it and returned to his book.

"You didn't like the app?" Ren asked, cocking his head slightly.

"I don't know if it suits the level I'm at," Aoba replied honestly. "I think keep working from my book for now, but I'll come back to the app later."

Ren used his little legs to push off the ground and jump up on the chair beside Aoba, who was surprised that Ren could even jump that high. "I've heard that it's often difficult to learn through apps," Ren commented, turning in a slow circle to get comfortable on the chair. "Every person who learns a language will learn differently, and it's impossible to make a universal app that suits everyone. However, I have analysed the way you learn, Aoba, and I think that with a little time you'll find this app very useful."

"Thank you, Ren," Aoba said, smiling. He knew Ren was just doing his best to help. A few minutes passed, and Aoba realized he'd been staring blankly at the same page in the book the entire time, reading the same couple of sentences over and over but not absorbing the information. He was having trouble focusing and getting back into the groove. "Maybe that's enough German for today," he murmured, closing the book and checking the time. He wasn't really sure what to do with the rest of the day.

Glancing out the window, Aoba noticed that the weather was pretty good today. It wasn't currently snowing, but there was still a little snow on the ground leftover from the other day's massive fall. It wouldn't be terrible weather to go out in. Aoba mentally ran through all the ingredients in the house and decided he'd go out for groceries to make Noiz something special for dinner and cheer him up. As he started pulling on his warm clothes, he thought about what Noiz might like to eat. He remembered Granny had a recipe for Japanese curry that she'd cooked for them both once, and Noiz had seemed to really like it. But Aoba couldn't remember the recipe off by heart. He'd have to call Granny on his way to the store to ask her.

Aoba still didn't feel comfortable taking Ren out in this kind of cold, so he said a quick goodbye as he locked the front door behind him. While he trodded through the light snow to the bus stop, he dialed Granny's number on his Coil.

"Aoba!" Granny exclaimed when she answered. "I haven't heard from you in a while. Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, Granny," Aoba replied, smiling. "I'm calling to see how you are." His heart suddenly felt heavy. He hadn't heard Granny's voice in a while. He missed her.

Granny scoffed. "Still worrying about me with no reason, then." Aoba could imagine her rolling her eyes right now. "I'm doing the same as ever. I'm still making medicine every now and then for the people in the neighborhood."

"That's good to hear," Aoba commented. That meant she was still able to get around with no problems, so she was probably looking after herself just fine as well. Sometimes Aoba really worried about her, but whenever he spoke to her he was reminded that he didn't need to worry so much. Granny was tough.

"That friend of yours with the gas mask…" Granny continued. "He still visits me every now and then, even though you don't live here anymore. He tries to cook for me, but I don't let him. Did you ask him to do that?"

Aoba was surprised. Clear was visiting Granny? "No, I didn't ask him to," he replied honestly, frowning in thought. He was standing at the bus stop now, and the timetable read that the bus would be there in just two minutes. He supposed he'd left the house with good timing. But Clear was visiting Granny… That was nice of him. He must be worried too. Aoba made a mental note that he had to call Clear sometime soon to thank him. "Anyway, Granny, I was wondering if you could send me your recipe for Japanese curry?" he asked, changing the subject.

"That's fine," Granny agreed. "I'll send it after this call, but you have to promise you won't screw it up."

Aoba laughed. "I've seen you make it about twenty times, so I'm sure I'll be fine," he reassured her. "Come to think of it, I had some cookies at the Christmas markets that tasted a lot like the gingerbread you used to make. I think I'm just missing your cooking lately…" Oops, the last part had accidentally slipped out. From the corner of his eye, Aoba saw the bus slowly approaching from down the road. He stuck out his arm to hail it. "I've gotta go now, Granny," he said quickly. "I'll talk to you again soon."

"Alright," Granny replied. "Just make sure that boyfriend of yours takes good care of you for me." And with that, the line went dead.

For some reason, a lump had formed in Aoba's throat and he swallowed hard to get past it. The bus pulled to the side of the road and the doors swung open. Aoba struggled for a second to think of what to say. He'd caught the bus a few times before, so he tried to remember what he'd said last time. " _Ich will in die Stadt. Ein Ticket bitte_ ," he said to the bus driver. _I want to go to the city. One ticket, please._ He was still only able to construct very simple sentences, but it was better than nothing. He could get is point across. He handed several coins to the driver, who handed him a paper ticket and gestured that he have a seat.

As the bus merged back onto the road, Aoba's Coil buzzed at his wrist. It was from Granny. She sent the recipe through, just like she said she would. Aoba scrolled through it briefly, relieved to see that it didn't look too hard; there were just a lot of ingredients he needed to pick up.

With several heavy grocery bags looped around his arms, Aoba waddled his way down the street back to the bus stop, on his way home. He'd managed to find everything he needed for the curry recipe, and the few small things he couldn't find he'd been able to get reasonable substitute ingredients for. He was pretty satisfied with how the dish was turning out so far, even though he hadn't even started cooking it yet.

Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. Something had caught his eye. Something… bright and flashing. Just a few stores down and opposite from the supermarket, there was a store that seemed to stock an amazing array of Christmas lights and decorations.

 _No way!_ Aoba thought. _That makes so much sense now!_

Noiz's reaction to Aoba insisting they return home last night suddenly made sense to him. Aoba remembered from Sunday, Noiz had mentioned that he'd always heard about all the great Christmas celebrations his family had done, but he'd never been able to participate before. Noiz had never experienced a proper Christmas until now. What did a proper Christmas include? For Noiz, it was the Advent Wreath, the Christmas tree, the Christmas markets and… Looking at Christmas lights.

And last night Aoba had robbed him of the last one.

Cursing his own stupidity, Aoba hefted his shopping bags further up his arms and jogged across the road to the store. He pushed his way inside, his shopping bags bumping into a couple of people. " _Entschuldigung_!" he apologized clumsily, trying to keep his bags as close to his body as possible. But the store had narrow aisles, and the shelves and racks were very full so there wasn't a lot of space to begin with.

He grabbed a couple of armfuls of different types of weatherproof lights and some adapters and extension cables. He'd never decorated the outside of a house before, he'd only ever decorated the tree and maybe hung some tinsel around the house, so he wasn't exactly sure of what he needed. But he was peeking into the hand-baskets of some of the other customers, and judging by what they were buying, he was on the right track. He headed over to the counter and paid for his massive haul, silently wondering how he was going to carry all these groceries and all these lights home. _With great effort, I guess._

He made it back to the bus stop just in time to hail the bus home. Thankfully, he hadn't dropped anything important in his rush. He crammed himself onto the bus, bought a ticket home, and sat awkwardly in his seat, surrounded by what seemed like a mountain of purchases. While he'd paid for the groceries out of his own pocket, he was thankful that Noiz had left him with an extra credit card "for emergencies" otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford all the lights.

Getting off the bus without snagging his bags on anything was a challenge, but he made it home safely in the end. As he unlocked the front door and shuffled in, he could feel Ren staring at him. Whether or not the stare was judgmental was hard to tell.

"Aoba," Ren greeted him.

"Ren," Aoba replied, with a nod.

He temporarily removed his heavy jacket, knowing if he wore it while the heater was going he'd break into a sweat. He got to packing the groceries away before he started on anything else. He put the cold products in the fridge, and everything else away in the pantry. Once that was taken care of, he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of setting up the Christmas lights. Noiz was going to love this.

"Can you tell me how to set up Christmas lights?" Aoba asked Ren, pulling his jacket back on.

"Of course," Ren agreed, his eyes glazing over. He was silent for a moment, but then he returned his focus to Aoba. "I searched for the brand of the lights you bought, and I downloaded an installation guide to your Coil. I took the liberty of translating it into Japanese for you."

"Thanks, Ren," Aoba said, grinning. He ruffled Ren's fur as he passed him, and scooped up the lights from the table. "I'll be heading outside to put these up then."

"Be careful," Ren warned, getting comfortable on the couch again. "Read the instructions," he reminded Aoba, who rolled his eyes. _That's obvious. I wouldn't have asked for instructions if I wasn't going to read them_ , he thought.

Aoba left the lights resting on the front step while he retrieved the ladder from the shed. He set the ladder up against the side of the house, and pulled up the installation guide on his Coil. The first step was to figure out where the power source would be. Aoba carefully kicked the thin layer of snow aside to examine all around the outside of the house, but he couldn't find a power outlet anywhere. Returning to the guide, he realized he could just run the extension cable through the window. He went back inside.

"Back so soon?" Ren asked. Aoba stared at him for a second. Was it just him or did Ren sound smug?

Aoba set up the power source, but was careful not to turn it on. He didn't want to electrocute himself. He went back outside, and it was time to start hanging the lights. He carefully ascended the ladder to the roof.

It took Aoba a lot longer than expected to hang all the lights. He had a plan for the layout in his mind, but on top of that he had to be sure they were secure and none of the cords were damaged. By the time he was finally finished, the sun was half-hidden behind the horizon and it was almost dark. He was lucky he'd finished just in time otherwise he might have been stranded on the roof in the dark. He started backing up to the ladder, ready to climb down and admire his work, but he misplaced his foot on one of the rungs and felt the ladder wobble, ready to tip.

 _This is it. I'm going to die_ , he thought.

But somehow, by some miracle, the ladder stabilized itself. Aoba looked down to see how, and to his surprise he saw a familiar face looking back up at him.

"Noiz?!"

It was just like Sunday and the snow shoveling incident all over again.

"You should be more careful," Noiz cautioned, standing at the bottom of the ladder and holding it steady. "You could get yourself killed." His face looked very stiff and serious. He was right. If he hadn't caught Aoba, he probably would have fallen, and the snow wasn't deep enough anymore to soften that landing.

Aoba climbed all the way down and jumped into Noiz's arms for a hug. "I'll try to be more careful," he promised, kissing Noiz on the cheek. He was still a little shaken from his brush with death, but he wasn't trying not to show it. He changed the subject. "I'm a little disappointed. You ruined the surprise. They were supposed to be on by the time you got home," he pouted.

Noiz hugged him tightly. "You didn't have to go to all this trouble," he murmured, burying his face in Aoba's shoulder. They stayed like that for a moment, comfortable in the embrace despite the setting sun inviting a cold bite to the air.

"Don't be ridiculous," Aoba said softly. "It's never any trouble if it's for you. Do you want to see if the lights work?" He shifted back to smile warmly at Noiz, who couldn't help but smile back at him. "Come on," Aoba encouraged, dragging Noiz inside by the hand. Aoba flicked the power outlet on and heard the lights' power source slowly hum to life. Excitedly, he encouraged Noiz to follow him outside again.

The sun had completely set now, and the sky was a deep navy blue, the perfect backdrop for some colorful Christmas lights. Aoba and Noiz stood in awe of the glow that was covering their house. Aoba had done a fantastic job of positioning the lights around the rooftop and along the sides of the house. Multi-colored flashing lights lined the gutters and windows, with strings of white lights forming three simple star shapes in the center of the roof. It was fairly simple but for a first attempt, Aoba was proud.

"What do you think?" he asked, turning to Noiz. He could see the lights reflected in Noiz's wide eyes.

"It's amazing," Noiz replied quietly, his eyes glued to the display. "It's perfect." He broke away from the lights to place a hand on Aoba's cheek and slowly bring their lips together.

Aoba could remember one of the first times Noiz had kissed him like this, while his lips had been soft, his hand had been rough, covered in callouses and scars from fighting. But now from months of working with his brother, Noiz's scars had faded and his callouses had finally softened. His hand felt warm and comforting against Aoba's cheek.

"I should get started on dinner," Aoba commented, breaking away. "I have a lot to prepare, and I don't want to leave it too late." He wasn't exactly sure who he was explaining that to, Noiz or himself. He could sense that Noiz wanted to stay outside for a little longer, and he was reluctant to leave him alone.

Noiz nodded. "Alright," he agreed. "I'll come inside when I'm done." His eyes returned to the Christmas lights. Aoba's suspicions had been correct.

"Careful not to catch a cold," Aoba cautioned, squeezing Noiz's hand as he passed him on his way back to the front door.

"I won't," Noiz mumbled, after a moment of thought. Aoba paused with his hand on the doorknob to hear the rest. "If I catch a cold, it would mean I can't say… The only thing I've caught today is you." He gave Aoba a sidelong glance and a smug smile.

Aoba's mouth popped open in surprise and he was speechless. _Damn brat! I didn't even fall_ , he thought, his face flushing red. He quickly turned away and stomped inside, not bothering to give Noiz the satisfaction of an argument.

"Did Noiz like the Christmas lights?" Ren asked from the couch, watching as Aoba hung up his jacket.

"Who cares?" Aoba snapped, his cheeks and ears still burning. But on the inside he was warm and fuzzy. He could tell that Noiz liked the lights, otherwise he would have followed Aoba inside where it was warmer. Aoba was just happy that he'd been able to fix his mistake from the night before.


	4. Wednesday December 21st

Unexpectedly, there had been a lot of snow during the night, and it had continued to snow during the day. Just when they'd thought the snow was thinning and disappearing, it was back with a vengeance. It had brought a serious chill with it, so it had been a particularly cold day, and Aoba had been forced to turn the heater up several degrees. Why was this a problem? Every hour or so, Ren would politely remind him that "The heater is not currently set to the optimal temperature, and it's wasting electricity." In response, Aoba would (less politely) remind Ren that "It's damn cold."

Aoba had spent a lot of the morning doing housework; dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, and the like. He'd taken a break for lunch and given himself a couple of hours to work on his German, but after that he wasn't sure what to do with himself. He found himself lazily staring out the window, watching the snow fall. He chatted with Ren for a little while, mostly about the weather. Ren agreed that it was strange that it was snowing this much. Being the middle of December, apparently the snow should have pretty much disappeared by now. But Aoba had to eject himself from the conversation when Ren once again reminded him that "Even though it's cold, the heater is not currently set to the optimal temperature."

Definitely not for the first time, Aoba thought about getting a job. It would be a much more productive way to occupy his time. He missed being busy, and he missed having real responsibilities. Vacations were nice and all, but this wasn't a vacation. He was living here. And he couldn't live like this forever. He couldn't do nothing forever. His eyes fell back to his "Teach Yourself German" book and he groaned loudly, sinking into the couch cushions. That was step one. A job was step two. It was just a shame that step one was taking him so long to conquer.

The sound of keys jangling in the front door shocked Aoba from his lethargic stupor. Suddenly filled with energy, he shot off the couch and leapt to his feet, racing to the door just as it opened. "You're home early!" he commented, greeting Noiz with an enthusiastic hug.

"I wasn't very busy, and I didn't want to get snowed in at work," Noiz explained. As Aoba released him, he looked around the room. "Oh, you've cleaned," he observed. "It looks nice. Thank you."

Aoba beamed at him. "Have you had lunch? Are you hungry?" he asked, already heading over to the kitchen. He was anticipating the answer. He knew Noiz was almost always hungry.

Noiz shrugged his jacket off and hung it beside Aoba's, taking a moment to think. "I could eat," he replied finally. "But first, I'm going to shower and change." He waved to Ren on his way past to the bathroom.

Even though all he was doing was reheating curry for Noiz, Aoba was pleased to be doing something. Noiz returned to the kitchen just in time. Aoba retrieved his curry from the microwave and set it in front of him. In between mouthfuls, Noiz chatted with Aoba about his day.

"How was your day?" Noiz asked as he was finishing his bowl. "This was really good even as leftovers, by the way."

"My day?" Aoba echoed. "Really boring," he replied honestly with a shrug. "But it's always boring when you're not home. I have nothing to do." _Hmm… Maybe I rely on Noiz too much,_ Aoba thought _. If he's my only source of entertainment, that can't be healthy. If only I had a job…_ He took Noiz's empty bowl and washed it in the sink while Noiz sat there thoughtfully.

"Let's go outside," Noiz suggested after a moment.

"What? Right now?" Aoba asked, confused.

"Yeah, let's go," Noiz insisted. "There's a lot of snow outside right now. We should go have fun."

"What are we? Kids?" Aoba asked, rolling his eyes. He hadn't gone outside to play in the snow since he was a little kid. He used to build snow forts with Koujaku in the playground when he waited for Granny to pick him up. Sure, it had been fun, but weren't they a bit old for that now?

"Just trust me!" Noiz's tone was almost begging.

It suddenly dawned on Aoba that he was doing it again. When Noiz had asked to stay out and look at Christmas lights, Aoba had unintentionally denied him that, and now Noiz was asking to play outside in the snow (something he probably hadn't done before either) and Aoba couldn't deny him again. Aoba opened his mouth, about to agree, but he hesitated. Did Noiz realize he was doing this? Aoba felt… guilty. This wasn't some kind of guilt trip, was it? This wasn't some kind of plan to get Aoba to do what he wanted? Aoba snapped his mouth shut into a hard line, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. No, surely Noiz wouldn't do something like that to him.

"Why do you want to go outside so badly?" Aoba asked bluntly, cutting straight to the point. If there was one thing he'd learned from being with Noiz, it was that sometimes you had to be forward about things.

Noiz looked a little taken aback. It wasn't often that Aoba was like this with him. "You said you had a boring day," he explained, pushing away from the kitchen bench and standing. "I just thought doing something outside would be fun. Something different." There was that guilty feeling again. Aoba couldn't believe he'd been suspicious of Noiz for a second, especially when Noiz had only been thinking of how to cheer him up. He sighed.

"Let's go outside," he agreed finally, leading the way over to the front door and pulling his warm clothes on. He could hear Noiz's footsteps as he followed. As he opened the door, he was instantly hit with a frigid wind. It was so cold outside. He trudged a few footsteps into the deep snow and shivered. He couldn't really understand why Noiz had willingly wanted to come outside. He already longed to be back inside where the heater was on. He turned back to Noiz with a flat expression. "Okay, now what?" he started asking.

But he was interrupted by an icy missile whizzing through the air and hitting him in the shoulder. He blinked, looking down at the shards off white ice that clung to his jacket.

"Damn!" Noiz cursed. "I was going for the back of your head." He was already hunched over, his gloved hands digging in the snow to build another snowball.

"Hey, you brat!" Aoba shouted. "That's not funny! I'm already freezing." He folded his arms across his chest stubbornly. "Don't you dare throw a second one at me," he warned.

Like Noiz was going to listen.

He lobbed the second snowball directly at Aoba's chest, where it hit his crossed arms with a solid thud. Before Aoba could even complain, Noiz was crouching down building yet another snowball. "I'm just going to keep throwing these at you," he informed Aoba, "until you lighten up a little." He threw the third snowball and it hit Aoba right in the forehead, showering him in ice as it exploded upon impact.

Despite himself, Aoba couldn't help but laugh. It was icy and cold but it had woken him up, he supposed. Noiz was right. He shouldn't feel guilty and he shouldn't be so uptight. It didn't matter how old they were, they could still change up a monotonous day by doing something fun like playing in the snow. Who could stop them?

Besides, Aoba wanted revenge now. He wanted to nail Noiz with a snowball right in the face. He bent down and scooped up a handful of snow, compacting it into a nice ball. Noiz was watching what he was doing carefully, but that didn't stop him from throwing another snowball at Aoba. Luckily this time he missed.

Aoba stood quickly and aimed at Noiz, arching his arm and sending the snowball soaring through the air in a perfect arch. He hit Noiz in the arm. _Damn, not good enough!_ Immediately, Aoba was bent over again building another snowball.

"You're having fun, right?" Noiz asked, laughing as they clumsily hurled snowballs at each other.

"No," Aoba replied stubbornly, but the brightness of his tone of voice and his cheerful expression clearly gave him away.

They started getting really serious and really competitive about it. They were counting points whenever they hit each other, with body shots and head shots being worth more points. Noiz was doing commando rolls and hiding behind trees to avoid the snowballs Aoba was throwing at him, and Aoba had erected a barrier of snow that he was hiding behind. So far, Noiz was ahead in points, but that was only because he'd started throwing snowballs first.

Chasing each other all around the front yard, Aoba found himself with his back flat against the side of the house, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He waited a couple of minutes to try and ambush Noiz, but Noiz wasn't stupid enough to follow him into a trap. He flung his body out from behind the house and threw a snowball at Noiz with full force.

His aim was true…

The snowball was going to hit its mark…

It spun through the air…

And hit Noiz directly in the face, knocking him backwards a couple of steps. He flailed and spluttered in surprise.

"Yes!" Aoba cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Finally, I got you!" To his disbelief, a retaliatory snowball came flying right back at him, hitting him in the face as well. He spluttered, his mouth full of ice and his celebration coming to a quick halt.

Noiz doubled over in laughter. But… _Wait a second_. Aoba wiped the snow from his face. He was sure Noiz had been standing on the left when he'd hit him, but that snowball had come from the right. There was no way he could have moved that fast.

"Oh no!" Aoba gasped, jogging over and realizing what he'd done. "I'm so sorry, Theo!" He held his face in his hands, ashamed. This wasn't the first time he'd mistaken Theo for Noiz. Why did they have to look so similar, and why did they have to be wearing similar shades of blue right now? " _Es tut mir Leid_!" Aoba repeated his apology in German. He'd spoken to Theo a few times in Japanese before, but he figured the apology might mean more in German.

"Uh, that's fine." Theo replied in Japanese so that Aoba could easily understand. However, he looked very disgruntled. "I just came to speak with…" He shot a slightly irritated glance at Noiz, who had not stopped laughing yet. "I wasn't expecting to be assaulted, but at least someone's having fun."

"You totally let that happen!" Aoba accused Noiz, swatting him on the arm. "Come on! Stop messing around!"

Noiz straightened up, a cheeky grin on his face. "If you'd actually hit me, we would have tied. But I still have four more points than you, so I guess I win." Aoba balled his hands into fists but didn't have any time to respond, as Noiz continued. "Let's go inside. I'm cold now." He placed an arm around Aoba's shoulders and began leading him inside, but paused. "Theo, you too. We can talk inside," he added.

The three of them headed inside, and Theo waited in the living room while Aoba and Noiz changed out of their wet clothes. "I'll make tea," Aoba offered, heading to the kitchen to give Noiz and his brother some privacy.

The kettle whistled as it came to the boil, and Aoba poured the hot water into three mugs. He let the tea brew for a few minutes, and then brought two of the mugs out to the living room, one for Noiz and one for Theo. They paused their conversation to accept the tea, and Aoba returned to the kitchen to drink his own.

A short while passed, and finally Aoba heard Noiz bidding farewell to Theo at the front door. He joined Noiz back in the living room and gave him a curious look. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Theo didn't usually come over just for friendly visits. Noiz shook his head in response and patted the couch cushions, beckoning Aoba to sit beside him. Aoba lowered himself carefully so as not to spill the remainder of his tea, but Noiz immediately recklessly pulled him into a hug, jostling him and tipping the liquid in the mug dangerously close to the rim. "Hey!" Aoba cautioned, but Noiz didn't even seem to notice. He was snuggling into Aoba's neck.

"Theo had good news, actually," Noiz mumbled, his breath warm against Aoba's skin. Aoba waited for him to continue, but he fell silent.

"What's the good news?" Aoba prompted, sipping his tea. It was difficult to drink with Noiz latched onto him.

"Like I said earlier, not much work came in today, so he decided to give me the day off tomorrow," Noiz continued, his tone colored with sleepiness.

"That is good news!" Aoba agreed, excitedly. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of being able to spend the entire day with Noiz tomorrow. He'd made sure to wake up early, unlike the other day. He didn't want to waste any time.

"What do you wanna do?" Noiz asked, stifling a yawn. Even though he'd come home early, Aoba guessed he'd woken up early and it must have been a long day, and then he'd gone ahead and tired himself out with the snowball fight as well.

"I'll think about it," Aoba replied quietly. Noiz deserved some rest. He finished his tea and set the empty mug down beside the couch. He repositioned Noiz's arms so that they were both a bit more comfortable. He could already tell Noiz was minutes away from falling asleep. His expression was cute and droopy, so Aoba decided to let him have a nap before dinner.

"I think I've decided on something to do tomorrow," Aoba piped up, raising his voice over the sound of the running water. He was up to his forearms in hot, soapy water as he started on the dishes.

"Yeah?" Noiz asked, much more awake than earlier. He was sitting at the kitchen bench, keeping Aoba company while he cleaned. Aoba had taken off his Coil so it wouldn't get wet, and Noiz was using it to aimlessly scroll through forums, his eyes only half reading the posts. "Tell me what it is. We can do anything you want," he promised Aoba.

"Is there an ice skating rink in the city?" Aoba wondered. "I've never been, but I've always wanted to go." He let out a soft grunt, scrubbing a particularly stubborn oven tray.

"Hmm," Noiz hummed thoughtfully. He switched tabs in Aoba's Coil and looked it up. "Yeah, there's one not too far from here," he confirmed. "I've never been before either, but it seems fun. Very much in the Christmas spirit."

"So do you want to go?" Aoba asked hopefully. He'd always seen people ice skating together on TV and it looked romantic. It seemed a little tricky, but Aoba used to ride around on roller skates when he was younger, and he supposed it couldn't really be that different.

"Yeah," Noiz agreed. "No problem. We can go."


	5. Thursday December 22nd

Just as he'd promised himself, Aoba woke up early. He refused to sleep in again. He and Noiz ate breakfast together for the first time in a long string of days. It was mundane but it was nice, sitting in the kitchen and listening to the other crunch on their cereal. Noiz was flicking through the latest newspaper, while Aoba was using the time to read a couple of pages from his German book.

"I'm impressed you're keeping up with that every day," Noiz commented. "You should be getting really good by now." Aoba flushed a deep red, not because Noiz had complimented him, but more because Noiz's compliment was way off the mark. He was still terrible at German, even though he was putting effort in every day. It was frustrating and embarrassing.

Once they'd finished breakfast and Aoba had tidied up, Noiz suggested that they get going. "It's a weekday morning, so most people should be working. Hopefully the rink won't be too busy," he explained, already pulling his heavy jacket on.

Aoba nodded in agreement, following suit and donning his jacket too. He paused at the garage door, calling out to Ren. "I'll see you this afternoon!"

"Have fun," Ren replied. "Don't fall over too much," he cautioned. Aoba rolled his eyes. It was probably going to happen anyway.

As with almost everything, Noiz had insisted on paying for entry to the rink and for hiring the ice skates. He knelt down, helping Aoba to lace up his skates. Carefully and clumsily, not even on the ice yet, the two of them made their way to the entrance to the ice. The moment he set foot on the ice, Aoba slipped over and landed on his butt. Noiz leant against the barrier, laughing. But as soon as he got a couple of steps onto the ice, he slipped over as well. _A taste of his own medicine_ , Aoba thought, laughing.

They decided to begin with, they'd have to cling to the barrier for dear life and make their way along the outside of the rink until they got used to being on the ice. Much to Aoba's surprise, while he'd successfully completed two laps in no time, Noiz was still struggling on his first lap, his legs wobbling even though he was supported by the barrier.

The rink was fairly empty. There were a few people hanging around the edge just like them, and a couple of others skating around the middle, showing off like they were professionals. The small crowd was good. Aoba thought if there had been a lot of people there, he would have felt more intimidated. He didn't want to get in anyone's way, and he definitely didn't want people laughing at his skating.

With several more laps finally completed, Aoba was slowly gaining more confidence. He was wrong when he'd thought yesterday that ice skating would be just like roller blading. For starters, although both required some level of balance, the surface you were skating on made a huge difference. Comparing rough concrete and bitumen to smooth, slick ice just wasn't possible. But regardless, Aoba was definitely picking up ice skating quite quickly. He'd moved a couple of feet away from the barrier and was skating by himself now.

Noiz, on the other hand, was still stuck to the barrier even after completing at least ten laps. He was falling down a little less, but that was about it for his improvement, and even then he was still falling down quite often. He was still quite shaky on his feet, and he was definitely not confident enough to try skating without the barrier yet. Aoba had tried waiting for him, but he'd insisted that Aoba move ahead and enjoy himself.

Gliding past Noiz, Aoba was gradually picking up speed and skating in a much more fluid manner. He was honestly amazed at himself. From that first step and that first fall, he'd never have thought he'd be able to move around on the ice like this. He even started venturing closer and closer to the center of the rink, where the long-time skaters were. There were two girls and a guy, all skating around each other and doing impressive jumps.

" _Du bist sehr talentiert_ ," he called out, complimenting one of the girls. _You are very talented_. She gave him a friendly smile in return and said something in German that he didn't understand one bit of. He nervously glanced over at Noiz, who was pretty far away now. He waved a hand at him, beckoning him to come over. He needed his help with translation. He silently cursed himself for starting a conversation.

Noiz very cautiously released his grip on the barrier and took a tentative step forwards. He made it several steps before his feet slid out from underneath him and he landed hard on his right side. The girl next to Aoba giggled at him, and Aoba rushed over to help him back to his feet.

"This was a terrible idea. Whose idea was this?" Noiz grumbled, rubbing his side. "I think I've fallen over about 17 times so far, probably more." Aoba opened his mouth to apologize, but Noiz held up a hand to stop him. "Don't worry about it. I'm not the best at this, but I'm just glad you're having fun."

Aoba held out an arm to support Noiz and slowly guided him to the center of the rink. The girl he'd spoken to before came over to him again, while her friends continued practicing their spins and jumps. She had a very short conversation with Noiz in German, and then she turned back to her friends, giggling again.

"What is it?" Aoba asked curiously, looking to Noiz.

"She said she's been watching us skate since we got here," Noiz translated. "She said you picked it up really quickly, and she wants to teach you some tricks." His tone was flat and his expression was irritated.

"That's so nice of her! But what else did she say?" Aoba pushed. Noiz was omitting something.

"She said… she feels bad for how many times I've fallen over," Noiz sighed. "And when she's done teaching you, she wants to help me get more stable on my feet." A light red flush was spreading across Noiz's cheeks.

"Oh my god!" Aoba exclaimed, clapping his hands to his mouth. "You're embarrassed! You're blushing!" He forgot for a split second that he was supposed to be helping to hold Noiz up, and now that he'd moved his arms, Noiz lost his balance and toppled over again. As Aoba was helping him up again, he caught the girl and her friends gesturing to Noiz and laughing amongst themselves. He felt a surge of guilt. He realized he would have felt awful if it was him they'd been laughing at. "I'm sorry," he apologized to Noiz. "I've just never seen you so flustered like this. You're always so calm and cool and good at everything. I can't believe I'm better than you at ice skating."

"Me neither," Noiz replied with a shrug. "Anyway, go learn some cool tricks to show me." He pushed Aoba's back, intending on sending Aoba scooting away, but instead he only succeeded in losing his balance and falling again. "Don't worry about me," he dismissed, grunting and clambering to his feet. "I'll make my way back to the barrier."

Aoba drifted over to join the girl and her friends, watching Noiz out of the corner of his eye. The poor boy barely made it back to the barrier alive. He'd fallen at least another eight times on his way back. Maybe Aoba shouldn't have dragged him out into the middle of the ice.

Overall, this was turning out to be a lot of fun. Aoba discovered he had a talent for ice skating. He might even come back here again some time. However, he was a little disappointed at the same time. He'd wanted to have a romantic day skating around with Noiz, but instead Noiz was stuck by the barrier while Aoba was talking to some random skaters he'd just met.

Well, not really talking. His German wasn't that good yet.

Without saying much to each other, the girl started showing Aoba a few different tricks. He could tell they were much simpler than what she'd been doing with her friends earlier, but he appreciated not being thrown in the deep end just for a laugh. She showed him a simple spin and a simple jump, demonstrating them several times and then getting Aoba to try them. Of course, he fell over more than once, but after a handful of attempts, he was able to successfully do them. The girl and her friends gave him a short round of applause.

Aoba thanked them, beaming, and then glided back over to Noiz. "Did you see me?" he asked excitedly.

Noiz wasn't even trying to move around the ice rink anymore; he was at a standstill leaning against the barrier and relaxing. "I saw," he replied with a soft smile. "You're doing really well. I'm really proud."

"It's your turn now," Aoba informed him, grinning. He held out a hand for Noiz, ready to take him over to the girl and her friends.

"I don't know if I want to," Noiz said hesitantly. "I'm really bad at this."

Aoba gave him a serious look. "You have to practice and ask for help to get better," he lectured. "Besides, when I thought about going ice skating today, I pictured… Us skating around together and having fun. I didn't picture me hanging out with some random skaters. That's not how I want the day to end, you know?" He was determined that he'd get to skate around with Noiz properly at least once before they went home.

Noiz thought about it for a second. "Okay, you're right," he agreed, taking Aoba's hand. "This was supposed to be something fun we can do together. I was honestly feeling a little jealous watching you skate with them. So… I'm going to work hard to I can skate with you too."

Aoba continued to glide around the rink, but he kept his eye on Noiz while the girl tried to help him. She was showing him how to properly position his feet, how to move his legs, and how to keep his balance. He fell over quite a lot to begin with, but the concentration was plain on his face. Gradually over the next half hour, he was falling less and less, and he was finally able to skate around on his own. He still looked a little clumsy, but he'd managed to pull it off.

"Hey! You're doing it!" Aoba called out, sliding up beside Noiz, who grinned back at him.

"Finally," Noiz commented, rolling his eyes. "And Ren thought you'd be the one falling down all the time."

They linked hands and skated around together for a while. The already thin crowd was starting to thin even further, as people were heading home. The girl and her friends gave a quick wave goodbye to Aoba and Noiz, and soon the two found themselves alone on the ice.

"See, this was what I wanted to do today," Aoba pointed out, squeezing Noiz's hand.

"Me too," Noiz agreed. While gliding on the ice was almost effortless for Aoba now, Noiz still had to concentrate on where he was placing his feet.

"Thank you for working so hard to make it happen," Aoba said, turning to smile at him. Noiz opened his mouth to reply and turned to make eye contact, but doing so meant he lost focus with his feet and stumbled. Aoba reached out to catch him, but it was too late. They both tumbled onto the ice together, laughing.

"Can we go home now?" Noiz asked, his head thudding dully on the ice.


	6. Friday December 23rd

Today was the last day that Noiz had to work until the New Year. Aoba had made sure to wake up early in the morning to say goodbye properly for once. While Noiz was dressing, he'd caught sight of the bruises that now mottled Noiz's body, damage from falling over so many times yesterday.

"Are you sure you're ok to go to work?" Aoba asked, a little worried. Some of the bruises had turned a dark purple overnight, and they looked quite painful.

Noiz poked one of the bruises on his left leg with his index finger and winced. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, totally contradicting his expression. Aoba rolled his eyes. Noiz finished buttoning his undershirt and fastening his tie. "What are you smiling at?" he asked Aoba, ruffling his hair.

"Nothing, you're just really handsome," Aoba mumbled. The Noiz in front of him was so different from the Noiz he'd first met in Midorijima, but Aoba loved him just the same, if not more. He was so proud of how much Noiz had changed, how much he'd worked to be a better version of himself.

"Anyway, I should get going," Noiz announced, bending to kiss Aoba goodbye. "Have a good day. I'll see you tonight."

While Noiz was out working, Aoba had been working as well; on his German during the morning. He'd managed to finish the chapter he'd started yesterday, and now he was racing towards the end of a second chapter. He was having a really productive study session, and he was really proud of how much he'd gotten through. His only hope was that it would stick in his brain. It was about lunch time, time for a break soon, and suddenly Aoba was hit with an awful realization.

His stomach dropped.

He'd forgotten to buy Noiz a Christmas present!

 _How!? How did I forget!?_ His thoughts were loud and buzzing, endlessly angry at himself. It was no excuse to say he'd been busy and it had slipped his mind. What had he been busy with? Sitting at home doing nothing? No excuse! He'd even gone to the shops the other day and bought groceries and Christmas lights, and he'd forgotten then too! What a disaster!

"It's fine, it's fine," he mumbled to himself, trying to calm down. "I can just go out and get something now." He started hurrying to pack up his things.

"Aoba, what's wrong?" Ren piped up, watching Aoba pace around the room.

"What the hell does Noiz want for Christmas?" Aoba snapped, having trouble keeping his voice even. "He's got tons of money! He can buy himself whatever he wants! What can I possibly get him?" He pulled on his warm clothes and grabbed his keys, preparing to leave the house. He'd just have to think about it on the bus ride into the city. He didn't have time to sit around at home any longer.

"He likes eating food," Ren suggested. "And he likes electronics." Aoba thought about it for a moment, pausing with his hand on the door knob. It wasn't the most helpful thing in the world, but he reminded himself that snapping at Ren wouldn't help anything. This wasn't Ren's fault; he was only trying to help.

"Thanks. I'll be back soon," he called out, locking the front door behind him. He jogged to the bus stop, surprised to see all the snow had finally disappeared and he could see the bare ground again. Unlike last time, he wasn't just on time for the bus. He'd have to wait about ten minutes for the next one. Bouncing on his heels restlessly, he tried to keep thinking of what to get Noiz.

 _What can I give Noiz that he can't buy for himself?_ Aoba was so deep in thought that he almost missed the bus. He barely hailed it in time. He bought a ticket from the bus driver and took his seat, his mind still occupied with the dilemma of Noiz's gift. He hadn't even had time to be nervous about speaking to the bus driver in German, so that was a good thing, he supposed.

He figured maybe once he was wandering around the shops, something might stand out to him as perfect for Noiz. He got off the bus and started exploring. He went into almost every single shop he walked by, hoping to find something, anything. But with no luck. Nothing really seemed to fit. Nothing jumped off the shelf and screamed "Noiz would love this." _Maybe Ren was right_ , Aoba thought. _Maybe food would be a good option._

What did Noiz like to eat? When he lived by himself, he told Aoba he'd basically lived off delivery pizza and pasta, but that was boring and unhealthy. Aoba tried to think back to when they were in Midorijima together, when they'd eaten meals at Granny's house, and when they'd gone to Platinum Jail and Noiz had basically inhaled every different type of food he passed by. He seemed to be pretty keen to try anything new and interesting. Maybe Aoba could try to find some unusual types of food to gift to him? It seemed like a good starting point, but again it just didn't seem strong enough. If Noiz wanted to, he could buy those same foods for himself too.

Aoba smacked his fist into the open palm of his other hand. _I've got it! I know what to do_ , he thought triumphantly. _I'll cook Noiz's favourite food for him!_ He scrunched up his nose. _What was it again?_ He could remember when Noiz had told him. He remembered being confused by such a huge long string of German. He'd thought Noiz had just made up a ridiculously long word at first, until Noiz had explained the dish to him. But he couldn't remember what kind of food it was.

It was… some kind of pork dish. Pork stuffed with plum compote, that was it! And there was something else. Bread dumplings. Hurriedly, Aoba activated a search on his Coil, looking for a recipe that he could read. It took him a couple of minutes to find an accurately translated recipe, but he saved it in his bookmarks and headed for the supermarket.

He finally felt good. This was a good idea. Wheeling the trolley around, he picked up all the ingredients. He checked the use-by dates on everything to make sure they would last. The stuffed pork was a bit more complicated than anything he'd ever tried to make before, but he wasn't too worried. If he followed the recipe, it should turn out fine. That's what recipes were for. On his way to the checkout, he also picked up a large decorated box. A lot of the groceries needed to be refrigerated, and this would be the best way to hide them and give them to Noiz.

As Aoba was lugging the grocery bags up the front steps, he was halted in his tracks. The door was ajar. There was no way he'd forgotten to lock it. He distinctly remembered locking it behind him on the way out, even though he'd been in a rush. Was Noiz home early? Aoba's heart skipped a beat. He didn't want Noiz to see him with the secret groceries! But after a second of thought, he realized that couldn't be the case either. Surely Noiz wouldn't have left the door open when coming home.

Carefully, Aoba nudged the door open and peered inside. He couldn't see anyone standing in the hall waiting to ambush him, but he had to be careful. He pushed his way inside as quietly as possible and put the groceries down in the hall. The plastic bags rustled slightly, but he couldn't help that. He crept around the corner to peer into the living room. One of the wooden floorboards creaked in protest under his weight. He cursed under his breath and jerked back.

"Aoba!" Ren called out to him, apparently realizing he was home. "In here!" There was a sense of urgency surrounding his words.

 _Shit, Ren!_ Aoba sprang into action. He dashed out from behind the corner, his fists raised and ready to fight to protect Ren. He was utterly surprised to find that Ren was completely alone. "Ren, what's going on?" he asked, spinning around the room, looking for some kind of explanation. Everything was a blur. "What happened?" he demanded.

"It's ok, the intruder has already left," Ren informed him calmly.

"Did they take anything?" Aoba asked. But as he looked around the room a second time, he realized everything worth taking still remained. Maybe the thief had been interrupted. "I don't understand…"

"Aoba," Ren said again. "It was Theo, apparently getting revenge."

"That makes even less sense!" Aoba was exasperated. "He was still upset about the snowball incident? Why didn't he just say something? What did he do as revenge?" He ran his hands through his hair and started inspecting the house even more closely. Nothing was missing, but maybe some kind of booby trap had been hidden somewhere. He didn't want to accidentally activate it.

"Aoba," Ren said a third time.

"What!?" Aoba snapped. He turned to face Ren and his eyes widened. He burst out laughing. Theo had a ridiculous idea of revenge. He'd broken into their house just to dress Ren up as a reindeer. Ren had a round, glowing red nose stuck to the end of his snout, and a pair of fuzzy brown antlers perched on top of his head. He looked as displeased as a robot dog could possibly look.

"It's not funny," Ren argued. "Please take this off me."

"Hang on, hang on," Aoba begged in between his laughter. He opened the camera function on his Coil and quickly snapped a photo of Ren. "I'm sorry, Ren," he apologized, still laughing. Both of them knew he wasn't really that sorry. Ren shook his head vigorously, but Theo had done a really good job of fastening the ears so they didn't budge one bit. Aoba helped to take them off, and then he sent the photo to Noiz. He nearly immediately received a reply, with a single laughing emoji.

"Did you find a good present for Noiz?" Ren asked, bouncing back from his humiliation very quickly. He shook himself again, now free from the embarrassing outfit.

"Oh yeah, the groceries!" Aoba exclaimed, rushing back to the entrance. He needed to sort out everything in the box and get it into the fridge. Luckily, everything fit in the box perfectly and the fridge was so large that he found a good place to hide it, on the very bottom shelf at the very back. He doubted Noiz would even notice it was there.

"I decided your suggestion of food was a really good idea," he explained to Ren, stretching out on the couch beside him. "So I ended up buying the ingredients to make Noiz's favourite dish."

"That sounds nice," Ren commented. "Very thoughtful. However, I'm assuming you remember that in Germany, gifts are given on Christmas Eve, and we are going to see Noiz's family for dinner tomorrow night." Aoba paused for a moment. The first part he'd remembered, but the second part he'd actually forgotten.

"Well…" Aoba said thoughtfully. "I'll give him the ingredients tomorrow and… cook the dish for him on Christmas day. It can wait a day longer." He was lucky he'd made sure all the ingredients would last. Maybe his subconscious had remembered about the family dinner, even if the rest of his brain had stupidly forgotten. Suddenly he was nervous.

"That would probably be the most acceptable option," Ren agreed. "I do not think Noiz's family would appreciate you trying to bring your own food to a meal they've already prepared…" But Aoba was barely listening. His nerves were taking over. _Dinner with Noiz's family_. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten, but then again he'd also forgotten Noiz's present until last minute, so maybe he was just in a forgetful mood this season.

 _Dinner with Noiz's family_. The thought kept playing in his head like a broken record. He got along fairly well with Theo, he supposed. He'd spoken with him a few times, never for very long, but there was never any serious tension between them. That wouldn't be an issue. Unlike his relationship with Noiz's parents. He'd met them only once, and he could instantly tell that they didn't approve of him. He'd tried his hardest to mind his manners and make a good impression, but it hadn't gone very well. His lack of German ability didn't really help either.

He tried to shake off the thought. It would be something he'd have to deal with tomorrow, so it may as well wait until tomorrow. For now, he wanted to continue working on his German until Noiz came home, and then they could enjoy dinner together.


	7. Saturday December 24th

Noiz had woken up early and was acting like a little kid, excitedly jumping on the bed to make sure Aoba had to wake up just as early as him. "Aoba, wake up! Our Christmas trees are being delivered this morning!" he reminded him.

"Trees," Aoba echoed in a mumble, rubbing his bleary eyes. He'd almost forgotten about the two trees they'd bought. He chuckled when he thought of the ridiculously tiny tree Noiz had insisted on buying. He could even imagine exactly where they'd put it in the bedroom. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" he told Noiz, slowly sitting up to make the boy finally stop shaking the bed.

"Let's have breakfast," Noiz suggested, smiling. His face was bright and alert considering he'd just woken up too. He kissed Aoba on the cheek and dragged him out of bed by the arm. He was unusually hyper this morning, but Aoba put that down to the fact that he was really excited to celebrate Christmas.

Noiz was already dressed, but Aoba dressed himself practically blindly, not paying any real attention to what clothes he was putting on. "What do you want for breakfast?" Aoba asked, yawning as he stumbled into the kitchen. He started rifling through the cupboard before Noiz had even answered, predicting his answer.

"Just cereal is fine," Noiz replied, sitting at the kitchen bench and opening the newspaper, as was his routine. Aoba's had was already on the cereal box. He smiled, bring it out for Noiz. They ate breakfast in silence, except for the crunching sounds of the cereal. They finished eating quickly and Aoba cleared the dishes away, just in time for the knock on the door.

"That'll be the trees. I'll get it," Noiz announced, leaping to his feet. He opened the door and stepped aside, holding it open to allow several men in matching grey jumpsuits to carry their delivery inside. Noiz leaned against the door, signing something attached to a clipboard, while the men set up the tree stands and brought the trees inside.

Aoba grimaced at the amount of debris the trees were shedding all over the house, knowing he'd have to be the one to vacuum it up. But his grimace was replaced with a smile when he laid eyes on the tree he'd chosen. It was still perfect, and he could picture how great it would look once they'd decorated it with the ornaments they'd bought.

The delivery men cleared out and Noiz signaled for Aoba's help. "Help me move the little one into the bedroom," he ordered, and they teamed up to gently lift the little tree and its stand into the air. The carefully carried it through to the bedroom and set it in the corner, where Aoba had originally assumed it would go. "Great," Noiz commented, looking pleased. He was so smug about that tiny tree. "So which one do you want to decorate first?"

Aoba thought about it for a moment. "The ornaments are still in the living room so we may as well do the bigger tree first," he decided, ushering Noiz back to the living room. He began opening boxes of ornaments and laying them on the couch cautiously, trying to decide which layer of the tree certain ornaments should be hung on. Whenever he'd decorated the Christmas tree with Granny, things had to have been perfect and balanced, with no bare spots left on the tree. Every inch would be covered evenly with lights and ornaments.

Unfortunately, Noiz was a lot less methodical. He was tearing open the boxes and haphazardly hanging the ornaments on one side of the tree, with no thought to their spacing. Every now and then Aoba had to direct him, "Don't put that one right next to the same color, put it over there instead!"

It took a little while because Aoba was so anal about the decorations, but finally the tree was complete. They took a step back and turned on the fairy lights, and it lit up beautifully. Some of the ornaments were in clusters thanks to Noiz, but for the most part the tree had turned out very well. It was practically like Aoba had imagined. They'd chosen the perfect glass ornaments for the tree, and it looked stunning in their living room. Aoba was quite chuffed.

"Onto the tiny tree now?" Noiz asked excitedly. His arms were already full of the leftover decorations, and he was just waiting on Aoba's signal.

"I'll leave that one up to you," Aoba allowed with a smile. He didn't have much energy left to decorate, and he didn't feel like bossing Noiz around anymore today. He figured it would be entertaining to see what Noiz ended up doing with the tree on his own, and at least Noiz would have fun that way. Without another word, Noiz bounded off to the bedroom to attack the tiny tree.

A short while later, Aoba was called into the bedroom to have a look at the finished product. Noiz cleared his throat dramatically and stepped aside, revealing the tree. "Not too bad," Aoba complimented, circling to see the entire tree. It was tilted to one side under the weight of the ornaments, slightly struggling to hold itself up. It was also too small for the amount of lights that had been wrapped around it, so parts of the tree were simply a glowing mass with no definition. But overall, Noiz looked like he'd had fun and that was the important thing.

"Ahem," Noiz cleared his throat again, gaining Aoba's attention. He jerked his chin upwards, and Aoba's gaze followed the direction. Directly above his head, hanging in the doorway was a bunch of mistletoe, clumsily taped to the top of the doorframe. "Oh no. How did that get there?" Noiz asked. "Guess we'd better honor the tradition, right?"

He pulled Aoba into a deep kiss. Aoba's lips parted to allow Noiz's tongue to slip inside his mouth. He went weak at the knees for a moment, overwhelmed with Noiz's soft lips and the taste of his mouth and the spicy scent of his cologne.

"This has so far been the best Christmas of my life," Noiz mumbled against Aoba's lips. "I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you've put towards this. Thank you for helping to make it so special." He released Aoba and they returned to the living room.

"I wanted to talk to you about tonight…" Aoba said hesitantly, sitting on the edge of the couch. "We're having dinner with your family, right?" He'd wanted to avoid talking about it, avoid thinking about it even, so he could keep control of his nerves. But it was nagging in the back of his mind no matter what he tried, so he thought he might as well bring it up with Noiz.

"Yeah, we're heading over to their house around 5:30," Noiz confirmed, giving Aoba a careful look. "You're nervous, aren't you?" It must have been very obvious from Aoba's expression and posture. He didn't bother trying to deny it, he simply nodded in response. Noiz leant back on the couch, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "You know, I'm still nervous every time I see my parents," he told Aoba. "I know they welcomed me back with open arms when I returned from Japan, and I know they helped me to change and become more responsible. But I still feel like… I'm the disappointment of the family. I'm trying really hard, but I can still feel their judgement every time I see them. Like they expect me to slip back in to old bad habits."

Aoba opened his mouth to offer some kind of reassurance, but Noiz continued talking over the top of him. Not in a rude way, just in a pre-occupied way. "I'm not really looking forward to having dinner with them," he confessed. "I thought about it a few days ago. I thought about cancelling, coming up with some kind of excuse, and just doing something with the two of us. I think I'd like that better… But this is a family tradition that I've never been able to be a part of, and finally they're giving me the chance to be a part of it. As hesitant as I am, I feel like it would be a waste to throw that chance away."

Initially, Aoba had brought it up because he'd wanted Noiz to console him about his nerves, but now Noiz was talking about his own nerves, which Aoba was ashamed he hadn't even picked up on. Aoba felt a little guilty. He should have been more aware of Noiz's feelings instead of focusing on himself. "Noiz," he began. "If this is the first Christmas Eve where you've been able to have dinner with your family, I think we should go. I know you're nervous too, but if it turns out to be a good experience, then that's good, you can keep those happy memories and you can be proud that you finally got to join in with celebrating with everyone."

"And if it turns out to be a bad experience?" Noiz countered.

"Well…" Aoba thought about it for a moment. "Then you know better for next time, and you never have to do it again. But it's better to go and find out, then to not go and miss out, you know?"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Noiz agreed slowly. "Anyway, we should be enjoying the day. We shouldn't be worrying about dinner so much. Whatever happens will happen."

"What did you want to do today?" Aoba asked him, beating him to it. Far too often, Noiz let Aoba pick what they did. It was time for Noiz to pick for a change.

"I think… I want to watch a Christmas movie," Noiz said, tapping his chin. "But I don't know any good ones. I've seen some on TV a couple of times, but they were really boring and I don't even remember their names."

"I'll look something up," Aoba told him, bringing up the search on his Coil. "Okay… Apparently, _Love Actually_ is one of the best Christmas movies of all time. It's about a bunch of different people who are dealing with their love lives around Christmas time, and all the stories end up intertwining and being connected."

"Pass," Noiz said. "Sounds boring."

"Okay, what about this one?" Aoba asked, scrolling down the list. "It's called _The Nightmare Before Christmas_. It's an animated musical about a skeleton who-"

"Don't like musicals," Noiz interrupted.

Aoba frowned. He hadn't expected Noiz to be so difficult about this. They'd watched movies together before and he hadn't been this fussy about it. "Moving on then," he mumbled, scrolling further down. He tried to filter out ones he thought Noiz would have negative reactions to, and only suggested the good ones, but Noiz didn't seem interested in any of those either. "Fine," Aoba said eventually, exasperated. "I was avoiding this one because I thought it might be a sore topic, but what about _Home Alone_?"

Interestingly, it was the first suggestion so far that Noiz hadn't immediately rebuffed. "What's it about?" he asked curiously.

Aoba rolled his eyes. "This kid gets left at home alone while his family goes on holidays," he explained, "and some robbers try to break into his house so he sets up a bunch of traps…"

"Okay, let's watch that one," Noiz agreed, reaching for the TV remote and pressing the on button. "Can you download it and send it to the TV?" Aoba, a little awe struck, fumbled with his Coil and managed to follow Noiz's instructions. He was surprised. He'd never expected Noiz to pick this kind of movie. He'd thought the title might conjure up some unpleasant memories for Noiz, but apparently he didn't care in the slightest.

The opening started playing and Noiz clapped his hands. "I've seen this one before!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Well, not all of it. I only got to see part of the ending, but I never knew what it was called so I couldn't find it later. I'm glad we're watching it now."

"Yeah, okay, sure," Aoba mumbled, still amazed. He leant his head against Noiz's shoulder, only half-paying attention to the movie. It used to be played on TV at least twice every December, so he'd seen it before as well. He didn't need to pay close attention now.

"Hey, I was thinking," Aoba started carefully, getting Noiz's attention from the kitchen. He was just finished cleaning the dishes from lunch. Noiz was still in the living room, now watching the sequel in the series. He paused it and joined Aoba in order to hear him better. "I was thinking," Aoba repeated, "We're going to be leaving in an hour or so, right?" Noiz nodded to confirm. "Well… I'm going to be embarrassed if I give you my present in front of your parents," Aoba confessed, avoiding eye contact.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Noiz reassured him, wrapping his arms around him in a backwards hug. He was silent in thought for a while, and Aoba continued with the dishes. "But, I guess… If it really bothers you, we can exchange gifts here before we leave," he suggested.

"I'm sorry," Aoba apologized. "I know you want to follow tradition and exchange gifts with the whole family, right?"

"I don't mind," Noiz said gently. "If doing that would make you uncomfortable, I'm happy to give our gifts to each other just by ourselves. It doesn't change much."

"Are you sure?" Aoba asked one more time, twisting his neck to look at Noiz's expression.

"Just hurry up and finish the dishes," Noiz told him, chuckling. "And then go get my present before I change my mind." His tone was light-hearted and he was smiling, so Aoba didn't think he was too bothered. That was a relief.

Aoba rushed to finish the cleaning, and then retrieved Noiz's gift box from the bottom of the fridge. It was exactly where he'd left it, so he didn't think Noiz had spotted it in the meantime. He returned to the living room, carrying it carefully in his hands, and he found Noiz sitting underneath the tree waiting for him. The TV had been turned off, the ceiling lights had been dimmed and the curtains had been closed, leaving the fairy lights on the Christmas tree as the only light source in the room. The lights flashed in different colors, casting strange bouncing shadows around the room. Noiz's face was lit up, and his eyes were shining. He waited patiently for Aoba to join him, with a neatly wrapped rectangular box resting at his feet.

" _Frohe Weihnachten_ ," Aoba said softly, taking his seat and handing the box out for Noiz to take. Merry Christmas. Noiz took the box from him and handed Aoba his gifts in exchange.

" _Frohe Weihnachten_ ," Noiz repeated with a grin. He very subtly corrected Aoba's pronunciation and Aoba blushed. "Open yours first. The card second," he insisted, gesturing at the box in Aoba's lap. Aoba now noticed that there was an envelope taped to the top of the box. He silently cursed himself for forgetting to give Noiz a card too.

He freed the card from the top of the box, and began working on the paper wrapping the box. There was tape on every conceivable seam. Noiz had really done a number on it. "Have you never wrapped presents before?" Aoba demanded, turning the box over in his hands, trying to find a point of entry.

"No," Noiz admitted honestly. _Oh shit, of course!_ Aoba remembered. _He's probably never exchanged gifts with anyone before. I'm an idiot!_ Noiz stuck out his finger and tore open a corner for Aoba to make things easier, and soon Aoba freed the entire box from the wrapping.

It was slightly larger than the size of a shoe box, with the word " _Riedell_ " written on the lid. Aoba had no idea what that meant. He made a mental note to look it up in his German dictionary later. He pried the lid off the box and gasped. He moved the tissue paper aside for a better look. Sitting in the box staring back at him was a pair of brand new ice skates, their sharp blades glinting as the Christmas lights flashed.

"Wow," Aoba breathed. He noticed the word " _Riedell_ " was also pressed into the leather tongue of the boot, so he assumed it to be the brand name. He crossed out his mental note, no longer needing to look it up later. "These look amazing," he commented, meeting Noiz's eyes. "Thank you!"

"They should be a lot more comfortable than the ones we hired," Noiz explained. "They're supposed to be really good for people new to skating. I thought… You looked like you enjoyed yourself a lot when you were skating, so if you go back you could use some nice skates."

Aoba smiled. He'd been thinking about going back some time, but now that he had these amazing skates, he resolved that he was definitely going to go back. He might even pick up ice skating as a hobby, something to do when Noiz was at work. Something he was actually good at. "Do you want to open yours now?" he asked Noiz, gesturing to the big box.

Noiz shook his head. "No, you still have your card," he said, picking it up from the wooden floor and handing it to Aoba. Carefully again, Aoba opened the envelope and slipped the card out. He opened it to read it, and a thin piece of paper fell into his lap. He picked it up and turned it over. His eyes went wide.

"Noiz!" he exclaimed. "No way!" The piece of paper was a voucher for German lessons at a school in the city. When he was really down about his studies a little while ago, he'd looked into the cost of lessons at this school himself, but it was so expensive that he'd given up.

"I know you've been having a hard time lately," Noiz said slowly. "You've been working so hard with your German. I've been checking your work in your book sometimes, and you're doing a great job, even if you don't think so. I know you think your progress is slow, but that's just because you have to self-teach. Trust me, when you get into a classroom with a real teacher, you'll be amazed at how quickly you pick it up. I thought this would help. I know you can do it."

Aoba could feel the tears welling in his eyes. He'd never received a gift that had made him want to cry before. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve before the tears fell, but it still didn't escape Noiz's notice. Noiz placed his hand on Aoba's knee for support. "Thank you," Aoba choked out. He wanted to get better at German. He was so amazed at this gift. He was going to work even harder so it wouldn't go to waste. He was going to make Noiz proud.

Suddenly, a chill fell over Aoba. Noiz had given him such amazing, lovely and thoughtful gifts. Not to mention expensive gifts. His eyes fell to the box waiting in Noiz's lap. Was his gift good enough compared to what Noiz had given him? Noiz realized where Aoba was looking. "Right! I can open my gift now," he said, beaming. Aoba swallowed past the lump in his throat. Noiz looked excited now, but what if his expression fell into disappointment when he opened the box? Aoba couldn't help but doubt himself.

Noiz lifted the lid off and his expression changed. Was it… disappointment like Aoba had feared? No, it was confusion. "What's all this?" he asked, picking up the jar of dried plums in his hand and inspecting it closely. "Pork, plums, bread, onions… Ingredients?"

"Oh! Let me explain!" Aoba exclaimed. "They're ingredients for, um, what's it called in German?" He scrunched up his eyes in thought, struggling. "Pork stuffed with…"

" _Pflaumengefüllte Schweinelende mit Serviettenknödel_ ," Noiz supplied, excitement overloading in his voice. His eyes lit up and he grinned widely. "Are you serious? Aoba, you're going to make this for me?" Noiz held the box to one side and leant over, hugging Aoba tightly. "This is amazing!"

Aoba felt a wave of relief rush over him. So Noiz had liked his gift in the end. He'd been worrying over nothing. It may not have been as grand as the gifts Noiz had gotten him, but Noiz appreciated it just the same. That was all he'd wanted. "I was thinking I'd make it sometime tomorrow," he explained.

"I'm looking forward to it so much," Noiz replied, still grinning from ear to ear. "Do you know how long it's been since I've eaten this? You know it's my favorite dish, right?"

Aoba laughed. "Of course, that's why I picked it," he answered. "I'll put the ingredients back in the fridge for now." He took the box back off Noiz and returned it to the bottom of the fridge.

"Alright, I'll shower and get ready to leave for dinner," Noiz announced, headed for the bathroom. _Oh, right. That was still happening._ Aoba felt his heart sink and his nerves returned, but he had to be strong. He had to get through it for Noiz. He refused to complain about his nerves when Noiz needed his support more.

Noiz's parents' house was, by all accounts and standards, a mansion. It was just as massive and immaculate, just as elegant and extravagant as Aoba remembered it the first time he'd seen it. He stood half-in half-out of the car, staring in awe at the mansion before him.

"Are you just going to stand there all night?" a voice asked him. A jolt rushed down his spine and he almost recoiled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He wanted to get back in the car, slam the door and lock himself inside. But then he realized the voice was just Theo, who was waiting for them on the wide marble steps that lead to the front door.

Aoba was so nervous, but he had to hold himself together for Noiz, who already seemed a little tense. Noiz's tension relaxed as he greeted his brother with a hug. Aoba emerged from the car and joined them on the steps, feeling uncomfortable. Tonight he was wearing a matching suit with Noiz, and the fit was tailored to his body in a way that made him a little self-conscious.

"Come in," Theo told both of them. "Dinner will be served in about half an hour. Mother and father wanted to exchange gifts beforehand." Noiz and Aoba followed Theo up the stairs and into the mansion. The front entry was massive as well. The ceiling was so high that Aoba could have stood on Noiz's shoulders and he still wouldn't have been able to touch it with the tips of his fingers. The floors inside were made of marble too, and there was gold trimmings and expensive light fixtures everywhere. Aoba couldn't picture Noiz growing up in this house at all.

Theo led them down the excessively long hall into what was apparently one of the living room areas. There was a massive Christmas tree, at least three times as big as theirs, looming in the corner. Noiz's parents were waiting in front of it. They greeted Noiz with awkward hugs speaking in German that Aoba couldn't translate for himself. Awkwardly, Aoba tried to politely greet them, but they barely acknowledged him. That was a sign this was going to be a good night.

"Father is just telling Wilhelm he's proud of how hard he's worked this year," Theo whispered to Aoba, taking pity on him and translating for him. Aoba appreciated it. Theo may have been awkward around him too, but at least he wasn't rude. He usually tried to make an effort to make Aoba feel more at ease.

Exchanging gifts was nothing special. Noiz's parents had bought him a couple of new suits so he could change up his wardrobe, but they hadn't bothered to get Aoba anything, not that he had expected them to. Theo gave Noiz a beautiful gold pen embedded with three glistening diamonds, and surprisingly he also gave Aoba an embroidered handkerchief, explaining that it was good to carry one around with you as often as you could. Aoba didn't really care much for handkerchiefs but he accepted it politely, realizing that Theo and Noiz had something in common. Apparently they both carried handkerchiefs everywhere. Who knew? Maybe Theo had even picked it up from his older brother at some point.

Dinner went relatively smoothly. Being seated at the mahogany dinner table, it was more difficult for Noiz's parents to give Aoba the cold shoulder. They shot him a few direct questions, asking in as simple German as possible about how his family was doing and how he liked the colder weather. He replied to the best of his abilities, but he could tell they weren't enjoying having to converse with him when he was making so many mistakes and using such broken German. Noiz and Theo both stepped in to speak for him a few times, to take the heat off.

While the conversation may have left something to desire, the food itself was incredible. They were served suckling pig, white sausage and a macaroni salad. It was a very traditional German meal, and Aoba was excited to try it. Usually with Granny he would just eat homemade fried chicken, so this type of food was very different.

Eventually, they made it through several courses of dinner and one very sweet course of dessert, and it was time for Noiz and Aoba to say goodbye. For Aoba, this couldn't have come any quicker. He had spent the entire night feeling awkward and judged. He had the sneaking suspicion Noiz's parents had even mumbled insults in German at one point. This just further confirmed for him that they hated him.

But Noiz seemed sad to say goodbye to his family. He hugged his parents again and gave his brother a firm handshake. Aoba still couldn't understand what they were saying to each other, but Noiz seemed very sincere. _At least he had a good night_ , Aoba thought as he got into the car and buckled his seat belt.

"We're never doing this again," Noiz stated calmly and firmly as he started the engine, catching Aoba completely by surprise.

"What?" Aoba blurted out. "I thought you had a good night? You were talking and laughing a lot, and you were enjoying the food, right? You got to catch up with your family and eat nice things and finally celebrate in a traditional way, right?"

Noiz shrugged. "How could I have a good night when you weren't enjoying yourself?" he retorted. "My parents… They weren't openly mean to you, but they may as well have been. They were making you feel uncomfortable on purpose just because they don't like you. That bothers me."

"You can't miss out on Christmas with your family just because of me," Aoba argued. It wasn't fair. He didn't want Noiz to have to sacrifice something because of him.

Noiz flicked his indicator on and turned in the direction of home. "Aoba, you are my family," he told him softly. "Even if I never have Christmas with my family again, I'm not missing out on anything."


End file.
